Reconstruction cranial defect with bone graft banked in a subcutaneous pocket of abdominal wall.

Abstract

Objective : To evaluate efficacy of reconstructing cranial defect with craniectomy bone graft banked in a subcutaneous pocket of abdominal wall.

Method : Decompressive craniectomy with bone graft banked in a subcutaneous pocket of abdominal wall was done in 15 patients during January 2004-August 2005. Most of them(14 patients) were operated because of head injury except one patient underwent craniectomy because of subdural empyema. Subsequently cranioplasty with these bone grafts were done when the clinical status improved. Duration of follow up after cranioplasty range from 6-20 months. Clinical outcome determined by recovery graft to achive satisfactory reconstruction, complication such as infection and bone resorption.

Result : Two patients died from head injury before cranioplasty was done. Local wound infection occur in two patients. One patient developed post operative meningitis and need to remove bone graft. In one case bone resorption apparently appeared after 6 months post cranioplasty. The rest 9 patients had satisfactory reconstruction without any complication until now.

Conclusion : Bone graft banked in the abdomen adds little to the overall time of the procedure, easy to perform,carries low morbidity for the patients.