What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a case series to evaluate hardware and bone-healing complications in 101 patients undergoing locking mandibular reconstruction plate fixation of vascularized bone grafts.
What They Found
The study found a low incidence of loose screws at 0.8% and nonunion at 0.7% in osteosyntheses. However, 14.8% (15 of 101) of locking mandibular reconstruction plates were removed due to hardware-related complications, with plate extrusion being the most common at 10 cases.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Canadian patients undergoing mandibular reconstruction with vascularized bone grafts can expect high effectiveness from locking plates, but should be aware of potential hardware complications. Factors like previous radiation or hyperbaric oxygen treatment may increase the risk of plate removal.
Canadian Relevance
This study does not have a direct Canadian connection as it was conducted at an academic tertiary care medical center outside of Canada.
Study Limitations
A limitation of this study is its retrospective, single-center case series design, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.