Vascularization in the transition area between free grafted soft tissues and pre‐irradiated graft bed tissues following preoperative radiotherapy in the head and neck region

After preoperative RT, vascularization of the graft bed decreased continuously as a function of the total dose and time after RT. The results strongly advocate the use of a primary reconstruction after a time interval between 4 and 6 weeks following preoperative RT and suggest the use of a total radiation dose of 40 to 50 Gy.