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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian Journal of Neurosurgery 2021; 10(01): 026-036
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1714317
Original Article

Bony Union and Flap Resorption in Cranioplasty with Autologous Subcutaneous Pocket Preserved Bone Flap: Early Report on an Ambidirectional CT Scan-Based Study

Sudip Kumar Sengupta
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Command Hospital (Southern Command), Pune, Maharashtra, India
,
Andrews Navin Kumar
2   Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Command Medical Dental Centre (Eastern Command), Kolkata, West Bengal, India
,
Vinay Maurya
3   Department of Radiodiagnosis, Base Hospital Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi, India
,
Harish Bajaj
4   Department of Neurosurgery, Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata, West Bengal, India
,
Krishan Kumar Yadav 
4   Department of Neurosurgery, Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata, West Bengal, India
,
Ashwath K. G.
4   Department of Neurosurgery, Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata, West Bengal, India
,
Dharamjeet Singh Faujdar
5   Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, AFMC, Pune, Maharashtra, India
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Abstract

Introduction Absence of sufficient number of prospective randomized controlled studies and comparatively small sample size and short follow-up period of most of the studies, available so far, have left ambiguity and lack of standardization of different aspects of cranioplasty.

Materials and Methods This is an early report of a computed tomography scan image-based ambidirectional study on cranioplasties performed with autologous subcutaneous pocket preserved bone flaps. Retrospective arm compared bony union and factors influencing it between cranioplasties and craniotomies. Patients with poor bony union and aseptic resorption were followed up in the prospective arm.

Results Retrospective arm of the study, followed up for five years (mean 32.2 months), comprised 42 patients as cases (Group 1) and 29 as controls (Group 2). Twenty-seven individuals (64.3%) in Group 1 had good bony union, as compared with 20 (68.9%) good unions in Group 2 out of the 29 patients. Four patients (9.5%) in Group 1 showed evidence of flap resorption, a finding absent in any patient in Group 2. Age, sex, smoking habits, superficial skin infection, and method of fixation did not appear to have any implication on bony union. Craniotomies done using Gigli saws fared better as compared with those done with pneumatic saw with lesser flap size–craniectomy size discrepancy, though it was not statistically significant. Fifteen patients have been included in the Prospective arm at the time of submission of this article.

Conclusion Ours is a study with a small sample size, unable to put its weight on any side, but can surely add some more data to help the Neurosurgeons in choosing the best for their patients.

Keywords

cranioplasty - autologous bone - bony union - aseptic resorption


Publication History

Article published online:
26 March 2021

© 2021. Neurological Surgeons’ Society of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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