Article
Acrylic cranioplasty with silicone molding vs. handmade acrylic cranioplasty - A prospective comparative study
Kranioplastie-Abformmethode vs. Freihandmethode - eine vergleichende prospektive Studie
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Published: | April 23, 2004 |
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Outline
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Objective
Acrylic cranioplasty is a common neurosurgical procedure that is performed when the original bone flap becomes infected or is unusable for other reasons. Achieving a good result is challenging in patients with large defects.The aim of the study was to compare two kinds of cranioplasty techniques prospectively, according to cosmetic results.
Methods
From July 1998 to October 2003 cranioplasty was performed in 171 patients. In 76 patients the conventional handmade cranioplasty technique was applied. In 95 patients, the so-called silicone molding technique was used. In these cases silicone was used to form a mold of the original bone flap. The mold was sterilized. Methylmethacrylat was placed inside the mold intraoperatively to produce an exact duplicate of the original bone flap. Both groups of patients underwent the same pre- and postoperative regime. To assess the cosmetic result, the preoperative CT-scan was compared to the postoperative one. The deviation of the cranioplasty to the original bone flap was measured in all cases.
Results
In the silicone molding group, there was no significant deviation from the original bone flap (T=-0,903;p=0,370), whereas in the handmade group the deviation was significant (T=-4,868;p= 0,000).
Conclusions
The silicone molding technique is a simple alternative method in reconstructing cranial defects. It provides the fabrication of an identical copy of the original bone flap in order to achieve better cosmetic results.