Osseointegrated implants and orbital defects: U.C.L.A. experience.
OBJECTIVE
A clinical study of 23 craniofacial implants placed in 8 irradiated and nonirradiated orbital detects was conducted over a 7-year period.


METHODS
Implant-retained orbital prostheses were fabricated, implant success rate was determined, and the soft tissue responses were recorded at 6-month intervals. As a result of patient death, no data were gathered on three implants. A five-point scale was used to record the health of the peri-implant soft tissues and the patients were followed from 9 to 72 months. The unit of measure was a visit/site that was assigned for each instance an implant site was evaluated. Evaluations were conducted at 6-month intervals, and for the study period, there were 80 visit/sites.


RESULTS
The study revealed that 42.5% (34/80) of the visit/sites demonstrated an absence of inflammation; 23.7% (19/80) of visit/sites demonstrated slight redness; 13.8% (11/80) demonstrated peri-implant red and moist tissues; 6.2% (5/80) demonstrated granulation tissue associated with the implants; and 13.8% (11/80) infection of the peri-implant soft tissues was noted. Implant success rate was 35% (7/20); implant success rate in the nonradiated patients was 37.5% (3/8) and the success rate for radiated patients was 33.3% (4/12). Implants placed in the orbital region demonstrated a high failure rate. Most implant failures occurred late as opposed to early in the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
Orbital implants should be placed in patients who understand that long-term success rates may be low and require meticulous hygiene maintenance.
Nishimura
R D
RD
Section of Advanced Prosthodontics, Biomimetics and Hospital Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., USA.
Roumanas
E
E
Moy
P K
PK
Sugai
T
T
Freymiller
E G
EG
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D005260:Female; D006097:Granulation Tissue; D006801:Humans; D008280:Magnetics; D008297:Male; D008447:Maxillofacial Prosthesis; D019931:Maxillofacial Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009915:Orbit; D016348:Osseointegration; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000295:instrumentation; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome