Treatment of 10 cases of trismus resulting from head and neck radiation therapy

Ten cases of trismus following irradiation of head and neck cancer are reported. The patients were 4 males and 6 females with a mean age of 54.2 years. We preformed 2 arthroplasties, and used 4 scapular flaps, 2 groin flaps, 1 omental flap, and 1 latissimus dorsi flap. The maximum mouth opening in each patient improved, and all patients were able to open past 2 finger breadth after treatment. Use of vascularized tissue is important to prevent atrophy of transferred bone and other soft tissues, and infection. In addition, even if trismus is improved after surgery, mouth opening exercises are needed to prevent recurrence of trismus. (author)