Epithetic nasal reconstruction for nasal carcinoma: retrospective analysis on 22 patients

Advanced nasal cancers usually demand partial or total rhinectomy followed by radiotherapy. Reconstruction of the resulting defects can be achieved by means of reconstructive plastic surgery and/or epithetic surgery. The data of 22 patients who had been treated after nasal ablation by means of custom-made silicone nasal epithesis fixed by bone-anchored magnets between 2003 and 2014 were evaluated retrospectively. There were 15 male (68.2 %) and 7 (31.8 %) female patients. The most common etiology that led to epithetic rehabilitation was a squamous cell carcinoma in 16 patients. An operative revision was necessary in two patients due to screw loss. Twenty patients were still alive with no evidence of disease after minimum follow-up of 2 years (90.9 %). Epithetic rehabilitation after nasal ablation to treat nasal malignancies is an interesting alternative to plastic and reconstructive surgery. Bone-anchored fixation using magnets can achieve a stable epithetic fixation after nasal ablation necessitating, in numerous cases, additional adjuvant therapy like radiation.