Anesthesia and surgical microvascular flaps

Background and objectives: Head and neck reconstructive surgery represents a major challenge facing the need to achieve a good cosmetic and functional outcome. Anesthesia may be an important and determining factor in the technique success due to its role in hemodynamic stability and regional blood flow. On the other hand, regional anesthesia, changes in blood volume, and vasoactive drugs may influence blood flow in the flap. Thus, due to the lack of recommendations based on evidence, the anesthetic technique of these procedures is most often inspired in pathophysiological considerations. The aim of this paper is to review relevant aspects regarding anesthetic practice in these cases. Content: Importance of the type of surgical flap, physiological considerations, and anesthetic approach. Conclusions: In surgery with microvascular flaps, the anesthesiologist role includes optimizing the physiological conditions for the survival of the flap without increasing the non-surgical morbidity.