Complete orbit and forehead reconstruction using a free latissimus dorsi flap and MEDPOR implants

✍ Scribed by Dimitrios Antonopoulos; Dimitra Tsiliboti; Dimitrios Skarpetas; Aris Masmanidis

• Book ID: 102230633
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 321 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1043-3074
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.20384

✦ Synopsis

Background. Reconstruction of enormous composite defects of the face in the presence of meningitis is a difficult problem. We present a case of a 29-year-old man with a huge, posttraumatic bone and soft tissue defect of the upper half of the left side of the face (orbit-zygoma-frontal-partial temporal bones), frontal lobe of the brain, and enucleated eye with intact facial skin.

Methods. An initial reconstruction using cement was complicated by multiple episodes of meningitis. In a multiple-stage procedure, we used a free latissimus dorsi muscle flap to reconstruct the soft tissue defect and control the infection, a complete left orbit and frontal MEDPOR implant for the bone defect, and also an orbital sphere MEDPOR implant for the eyeball.

Results. In a 2-year follow-up, no infection was observed, and the cosmetic result is satisfactory.

Conclusion. The combination of free flap and MEDPOR implants demonstrates an alternative method for reconstruction of complicated facial defects. V