PRIMARY MANDIBULAR RECONSTRUCTION WITH THE TITANIUM HOLLOW SCREW RECONSTRUCTION PLATE - EVALUATION OF 51 CASES

Fifty-one patients undergoing surgical reconstruction of mandibular de fects with the titanium hollow screw reconstruction plate over a 4-yea r period were analyzed. Plate failure was defined as flap necrosis, pl ate extrusion, or plate fracture necessitating a further surgical proc edure and occurred in 12 patients (24 percent). The incidence was high est for patients who had more than three mandibular regions resected. It was not affected by the primary site of the tumor or whether the pa tient had received radiation therapy. Although the failure rate was th e same whether the patient attained full oral function or was fed by g astrostomy, plate fracture was limited to the former group. The overal l cause-specific survival rate for this group of patients was 68 and 5 6 percent at 1 and 2 years, respectively. In addition, 81 percent of p atients attained a full oral diet.