ABSTRACT
Reconstruction of the tongue base may be required for a variety of lingual defects. Occasionally, it is needed following traumatic injury or surgical excision of benign neoplasms. However, malignant tumors comprise the vast majority of those defects that require tongue reconstruction. Malignancies of the tongue base make up approximately 30% of oropharyngeal cancer (1). The other major subsite in the oropharynx is the tonsil. When the tonsil is the primary site, the tongue base may be secondarily involved in over 50% of cases. Thus, in almost 70% of cases of cancer of the oropharynx, there will be involvement of the tongue base.
