Use of cyanoacrylate in facial bone fractures

It is not uncommon to encounter multiple bone fragments during open reduction of facial bone fractures. When these fragments are few and their size large, there is no problem. However, multiple, small, and thin bone fragments are difficult to handle, making accurate reduction with interfragmentary wires problematic. This is frequently encountered in fractures of the anterior maxillary wall, orbital floor, orbital roof, and frontal sinus. Therefore, many surgeons reconstruct the larger segments and discard the smaller segments. In this study, 10 patients who sustained facial fractures with multiple, small, and thin fragments were treated with tissue adhesive (n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate). Postoperative three-dimensional computed tomography scans demonstrated excellent reconstruction following this technique.