[Replantation of traumatic amputated ears by Mladick procedure: 6 cases]

Traumatic ear amputations are relatively rare. Whenever possible, ear reimplantation should be attempted, however the choice of the surgical procedure must be judicious.

We present 6 cases of partial ear amputation treated by the pocket technique described by Mladick. The series comprises 5 partial amputations severing less than half of the auricule and 1 subtotal amputation preserving the ear lobule.

Necrosis of the avulsed fragment occurred in the only case of subtotal amputation. In the 5 other cases the revascularisation of the severed part was successful. Morphological results are often very good when the ear is freed from the pocket before 4 weeks. Beyond this delay skin grafting is necessary and inaesthetic scar retraction occurs.

The success rate depends on the size and the degree of contusion of the amputated ear. We recommend the Mladick's procedure for reimplantation of fragments less than 1/2 of the auricle with favorable tissue condition. We believe that other procedures described in the literature could offer a good alternative for amputations exceeding half of the ear pavilion.