Artikel
Partial ear reconstruction with Medpor®, own experiences and results
Suche in Medline nach
Autoren
Veröffentlicht: | 8. Juli 2008 |
---|
Gliederung
Text
Objective: Searching the ideal implant for reconstructing the auricle will probably remain unsuccessful. The use of Medpor® for auricle reconstruction is nevertheless, an innovation which might bring us closer to a normal shaped auricle. The operating surgeon does not only save time and therefore money, but can also reach a satisfying result with this new implant type.
Material and methods: The Medpor® implant consists of two elements, the helix and the auricle base. The implant is made of porous polyethylene. The implant can be used for total and for partial auricle reconstruction. For partial auricle reconstruction the surgeon can easily modify the implant to adapt the implant to the defect.
The implant is then covered completely with a flap of temporoparietal fascia and is then covered with skinflaps or full skin grafts.
Results: Since there was no need to harvest rib cartilage, the operating time was dramatically shortened, and the morbidity reduced. The Medpor® implant was easily modified to the auricle defect. In our case we did not see implant rejection.
The patient's time in hospital was reduced. The cosmetic result in our case was very good.
Conclusions: The abandonment to harvest rib cartilage for partial and total auricle reconstruction shows a significant time advantage towards using Medpor® implants. It is also less invasive, shows a high form stability and we think, using Medpor® implants is an easy and practicle method for partial and total auricle reconstruction.
It is still too early to say that Medpor® is the ideal implant for auricle reconstruction. From our experience and other users Medpor® shows at least equivalence if not advantages compared to reconstruction with rip cartilage.