New approach to the surgical treatment of severe exophthalmos in Graves disease.
In the last few years, various surgical techniques to correct orbital decompression in patients with Graves ophthalmopathy have been proposed. In those patients in whom a high degree of exophthalmos is mainly the result of the hypertrophied endorbital muscles with respect to endorbital fat hypertrophy, lipectomy is insufficient to obtain an acceptable increase of endorbital volume. The authors propose a method that provides for the monobloc bilateral quadrantotomy by extracranial access. Despite traditional methods of decompression, the advantage of this technique is better advancement of the orbital margins. The bicoronal and endoral incisions guarantee no facial scars. Compared with the craniotomy, the extracranial access is also less stressful for the patient.
De Ponte
F S
FS
Maxillo-Facial Unit, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
Bottini
D J
DJ
Brunelli
A
A
Marchetti
E
E
Iannetti
G
G
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D005094:Exophthalmos / Q000601:surgery*; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D015187:Lipectomy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000601:surgery; D009915:Orbit / Q000601:surgery*