The current trend of autologous costal cartilage harvest by facial plastic surgeons for rhinoplasty in the United States

Abstract

Aim: To assess the safety profile and practice trend of autologous costal cartilage harvest by facial plastic surgeons in the United States (US).

Methods: A 10-question online survey was distributed by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to its members.

Results: Of the 2,639 members, 2,379 received the survey with 137 (5.76%) members responded. The majority (33.6%) of the respondents were expert facial plastic surgeons. One hundred and nine (79.6%) of the respondents performed rib harvest with 49.6% of them performing the procedure at a hospital facility. Among them, 21.5% exclusively performed their surgery at an ambulatory surgical center not physically attached to a hospital while 6.67% of them at the in-office accredited operating room. When comparing techniques, 64.7% performed only full-thickness rib grafts vs. 12.0% harvesting partial-thickness rib grafts. Most used an incision length between 2.1 and 4 cm (64.4%) while 2 surgeons used < 1 cm incision. The occurrence of pneumothorax after autologous rib harvest remained low (< 1%) in most (73.1%). Regarding safety practices of the surgeons, only 24.6% would order a chest X-ray post-operatively while 54.5% would not. In addition, 58.7% of respondents never kept their patients overnight for observation after autologous rib grafting while 15.0% always would. For pain management, most respondents (50.4%) did not utilize any additional analgesia protocol besides oral pain medications.

Conclusion: Two thirds of the US facial plastic surgeons performed autologous costal cartilage harvest in a hospital setting. Routine chest imaging or overnight observation post-operatively was not warranted as the percentage of pneumothorax remained low and pain control was adequate.

Keywords

Rib graft / autologous costal cartilage / rhinoplasty / current practice / pneumothorax

References

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