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Complications after osteosynthesis of craniofacial fractures—an analysis from the years 2015–2017

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Abstract

Background

Complications mean a recurring problem in everyday clinical practice. Complication rates between 6 and 13% are described for the treatment of bony injuries to the head and neck area. This paper aims to provide a detailed analysis of the complications after osteosynthesis in facial skull fractures.

Material and method

In this retrospective study, we reviewed all patient records of injured treated in the Department of Cranial and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Dortmund General Hospital between 2015 and 2017.

Results

Of the 22,031 head and neck injuries, 685 were treated with osteosynthesis. A clinically significant complication was reported in 32 patients (4.76%). The number of total complications was 63. In total, 66.7% of all complications have been identified in the paramedian mandible (44%), median mandible, mandibular angle, and in the collar area (each 12.7%). Eleven implants (in 5 patients) showed a cancellous bone impaction. Broken implants have been recognized in two cases. In 8 cases, there was a pseudarthrosis in the fracture area; in one case, there was a broken implant and pseudarthrosis in combination.

Conclusion

Osteosynthesis is a safe method of treating facial skull fractures, which is why we consider it the gold standard of therapy. The complication rate is well below 5%. The 3-dimensional adaptation (bending) and shortening of the osteosynthesis implants do not lead to an increase in complications.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Medartis AG and especially Dr. Annika Cattin and Dr. Adrian Spiegel for their support. We thank for the statistical evaluation of Dr. Jessica Hirsch and Ms. Frauke Hennig (Chrestos Concept GmbH & Co. KG, Girardetstr. 1-5, D-45131 Essen, Germany). We acknowledge our colleagues Mr. Alexander Rost and Mr. Frank Niemeier for their support. We thank all our colleagues for supporting our work with injured people.

Funding

Medartis AG (Hochbergerstr. 60E, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland) has financially supported this study (no grant no. available).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cranio-, Maxillofacial Surgery, Regional Plastic Surgery, Dortmund General Hospital, Muensterstrasse 240, D-44145, Dortmund, Germany

    Ákos Bicsák, Dietmar Abel, Laurence Tack, Velissarios Smponias, Stefan Hassfeld & Lars Bonitz

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  1. Ákos Bicsák
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  2. Dietmar Abel
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Correspondence to Ákos Bicsák.

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Conflict of interest

Author 1 has no financial interests.

Author 2 has no financial interests.

Author 3 has no financial interests.

Author 4 has no financial interests.

Author 5 is design surgeon at Medartis AG.

Author 6 is design surgeon at Medartis AG.

Ethical approval

The Ethics Committee of the University of Witten-Herdecke has approved this study (No. 152/2017).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Animal experiments

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Dr. Dietmar Abel and Dr. Ákos Bicsák share the first authorship of this paper.

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Bicsák, Á., Abel, D., Tack, L. et al. Complications after osteosynthesis of craniofacial fractures—an analysis from the years 2015–2017. Oral Maxillofac Surg 25, 199–206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10006-020-00903-1

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