Frontal sinus fractures: Computed tomography evaluation of sinus obliteration with lyophilized cartilage

Allogenic lyophilized cartilage has been proven clinically to be a reliable material for obliteration of the frontal sinus without the limitations of donor site morbidity and the prolongation of the operation time produced by autogenic grafting. The long-term behaviour of the implanted material is o f paramount importance for the success of the obliterative technique. This survey included 51 trauma patients on whom obliteration of the frontal sinu s with lyophilized cartilage was performed. The fate of the lyophilized car tilage graft was evaluated from computed tomography imaging of the oblitera ted frontal sinus. No radiological sign of mucocele formation or inflammato ry disease was noted. Bone density measurement of the obliterated sinus and the adjacent trabecular bone was calculated. The patient population was di stributed into four groups (0-2, 2-4, 4-6, >6 years) according the postobli terative time. The bone density of the implanted lyophilized cartilage was accentuated from group 1 to group 4 when compared with the bone density of the trabecular bone. This shows the long-term tendency of lyophilized carti lage graft to osseous substitution.