Phase 4 Study of Postoperative Prostaglandin E1 in Head and Neck Microsurgery

Despite meticulous microsurgical techniques, free flap failure due to postoperative vessel thrombosis cannot be completely eliminated. Postoperative pharmacological augmentation of the established blood flow is considered as a feasible solution to this problem. Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1 )has been shown to have vasodilatation and anti-thrombosis effects, so it is used by some surgeons after microsurgery to keep the patency of the anastomosed small vessels. However, PGE 1 may also causes some complications, like pleural effusion or deep vein thrombosis. Therefore, it remains uncertain whether a routine use of PGE 1 in every patient after head and neck microsurgery is justified. We aim to test the hypothesis that PGE 1 increases postoperative vessel patency rate in patients undergoing head and neck microsurgery, and yielded a comparable complication rate as the control group.