LARYNGEAL RECONSTRUCTION USING ALLOGENEIC CARTILAGES

Preserved allogeneic cartilage has been used to reconstruct laryngeal defects. The most important problem with this approach has been graft resorption, which seems to be caused by devitalization of the grafts a s a consequence of preservation. In this study, the authors compared t he in vivo behavior of vital and nonvital preserved cartilage used to reconstruct the larynx of New Zealand white rabbits. The vital cartila ge grafts were stored using organ culture procedures, and the nonvital grafts were stored in formaldehyde. While the formaldehyde-preserved cartilage showed inflammatory changes, the transplanted vital cartilag e was well accepted and showed no evidence of immune cell infiltration s. The authors concluded that viable cartilage grafts are preferable t o grafts of chemically preserved cartilage.