Kate, radial free flap reconstruction of the tongue is quite common. An ENT surgeon and a plastic surgeon work together to cut out the cancer and build the tongue up with a flap of tissue, usually from the inner wrist. They take blood vessels in the forearm together with the flap and hook these blood vessels up to the new bit of tongue via the neck. They usually do a neck dissection to remove nodes so the neck is open anyway. The wound on the wrist is covered with a peeling of skin from the thigh. The thigh heels by itself, leaving a paler patch of skin. The thigh wound is called the donor site while the wrist is called the graft site. This is big, complex surgery taking about 7 hours or more but I've had it twice and have healed up beautifully even at the ages of 63 and 67. I have no problems with my wrists. In fact the second scar, only a year old, looks better than the first scar on my left wrist. I cover them with a watch and a bracelet but they're not too bad at all.

My reconstructed tongue worked very well and I went back to teaching after my hemiglossectomy. My second op has made life harder in terms of eating but my speech is very good, even if I say so myself!

To look it up you would have to search for free radial forearm flap or free flap reconstruction of the tongue. I think they used to form flaps from tissues within the mouth and the wrist flap is called "free" because it is not attached initially.

Best wishes
Maureen