Twenty-five years experience with extracorporeal septoplasty

Even today, the difficult septum presents a surgical problem. A severe septum deformity is caused mostly by an accident or is seen in patients with malformations such as cleft lip and palate deformity. It is characterized by a massive malformation in all levels with consecutive blocking of one or both airways. Such marked septal deformities cannot be corrected properly by standard septoplasty techniques. Therefore, in such cases we suggest an extracorporeal septoplasty, where we take out the whole septum and reconstruct a new septal plate by different techniques followed by replantation and reconstruction of the cartilaginous dorsum. From January 1, 1981 to December 31, 2005, we operated on 2301 patients and improved this method constantly, especially the safe septal fixation and rebuilding of the cartilaginous dorsum. Follow-ups showed that even in severe deformities a revision rate of only 5% respectively 7% was found. Therefore, we conclude that the extracorporeal septoplasty with its refinements and the way we are doing it today can also be recommended to less experienced rhinosurgeons.