CLINICAL CASES   

Rivista Italiana di Chirurgia Maxillo-Facciale 2002 December;13(3):163-7

Copyright © 2003 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Use of treated human dermal grafts in maxillo-facial reconstructive surgery

Indrizzi E. ¹, Borneti P. O. ², Fini G. ²

¹ Department of Maxillofacial Surgery “La Sapienza” University “Umberto I” Polyclinic, Rome, Italy 2 S. Andrea Hospital 2nd “La Sapienza” Faculty of Medicine, Rome, Italy

In max­il­lo-­facial sur­gery, ­many cas­es ­need aes­thet­ic cor­rec­tion; cam­ou­flage is ­often need­ed in ­many mal­for­ma­tive pathol­o­gies [Romberg syn­drome, ­cleft ­lip ­and pal­ate (CLP), ­etc.], fol­low­ing trau­mat­ic ­events or demol­i­tive pro­ce­dures on ­the ­face. During ­the ­last 2 ­years we ­have ­employed treat­ed ­human cel­lu­lar der­mis allo­grafts extract­ed ­from cadav­er in 35 cas­es of ­soft tis­sue ­loss in ­the ­face. The mate­ri­al ­has ­proved ­very ­easy to ­use ­and ­can ­also be ­employed ­under ­local anaesthe­sia, by ­means of 2-3 ­small inci­sions, depend­ing on ­the ­zone to ­treat. The ­results ­obtained, ­with a fol­low-up of 2 ­years, ­can be ­judged as ­being ­very ­good, as ­there ­where no cas­es of rejec­tion, ­post-oper­a­tive prob­lems ­have ­been min­i­mal ­and aes­thet­ic ­results ­have ­been ­more ­than sat­is­fac­to­ry. Therefore, we ­believe ­that ­human cel­lu­lar der­mis allo­grafts is ­one of ­the ­few graft­ing mate­ri­als ­that ­most close­ly ­approach ­the stabil­ity, bio­com­pat­ibil­ity, iner­tia ­and plas­tic­ity ­which an ­ideal allo­gen­ic mate­ri­al ­should ful­fil.