But unperforated foil may raise the risk for saddling of the dorsum after the reconstruction procedure
THURSDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Polydioxanone foil is useful in the reconstruction of the nasal septum, although unperforated foil is associated with a risk of saddling, according to a medical record review published in the March/April issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
Daniel J. Tweedie, and colleagues at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, U.K., analyzed data on 50 patients who underwent septal reconstruction with polydioxanone foil, of whom the first 26 patients were treated using unperforated foil, while the next 24 were treated using perforated foil.
When the researchers reviewed the patients for appearance and function, results were satisfactory in 43 of the 50 cases, while three patients needed minor septal or tip revision surgery, and four had moderate saddling of the dorsum. All four of these cases occurred in patients treated with unperforated polydioxanone foil, and the problem was successfully solved with additional surgery using auricular cartilage grafts.
"To our knowledge, we present the largest single-center series of septal reconstructions using unperforated and perforated polydioxanone foils -- shown to be useful in the correction of complex septal deformity. However, the unperforated form seems to be associated with a significant risk of postoperative saddling, and we warn against its use in this context. No such complications were observed with the use of thin, 0.15-mm perforated polydioxanone foil, which we exclusively recommend for this application," the authors write.
Abstract
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