Use of Bone-Cartilaginous Unit in Revision Rhinoplasty

Insufficient septal cartilage is a common finding when performing revision rhinoplasty. Such cases require costal or conchal cartilage to be harvested, which is time consuming and brings the risk of morbidity. A new technique involves the use of a septal bone-cartilage composite graft or a bone-cartilaginous (BC) unit as a rhinoplasty graft.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the subjective and objective effects of using a BC unit graft in revision rhinoplasty.

In this clinical trial, we examined 40 patients with insufficient septal cartilage for grafting who were referred to a tertiary center and a private setting from January 2016 to March 2017 for revision septorhinoplasty. The patients had nasal deformity and nasal obstruction. Assessment of surgical outcome was based on anthropometric measurements and by measuring the width of the middle nasal third from photographs, and on 2 patient questionnaires: the Nasal Obstruction and Septoplasty Effectiveness (NOSE) and the Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation (ROE) questionnaires.

Nasolabial angles and the middle nasal third improved significantly after surgery (P < 0.005). Based on the NOSE questionnaire, 85% of patients had no or mild nasal obstruction, and the ROE questionnaire indicated that 62.5% were completely or very satisfied with the appearance of their nose.

The BC unit is an effective graft in revision rhinoplasty, and can be used in place of the rib graft. In skilled hands, harvesting of this graft results in no morbidity and is not time consuming.