Endoscopic-Assisted Intraoral Approach for Osteosynthesis of Mandibular Subcondylar Fractures

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to follow-up and evaluate the treatment result of mandibular subcondylar (MSC) fractures by osteosynthesis via endoscopy-assisted intraoral approach. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study, in which 47 patients with 51 sites of MSC fractures treated osteosynthesis via endoscopic-assisted intraoral approach at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology HoChiMinh City - Vietnam were followed-up and evaluated clinically and radiographically up to 6 months postoperative. Results: Before surgery, all of the patients were malocclusion, 15% of patients were isolated MSC fractures, the rate of concomitant midface fractures were 30%, 92.2% of fracture sites with moderate displacement, 7.8% of fracture sites with severe displacement, 5.9% of fracture sites with dislocation. After surgery, all of the patients had preinjured centric occlusion; no patient had facial paralysis; 6% of patients had surgical site infection within 1 week; pain frequency were 56.9% at 1 month, 35.3% at 2 months, 7.8% at 3 months, and 2.0% at 6 months with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) means of pain were 1.74±1.85 at 1 month, 0.55±1.12 at 2 months, 0.08±0.27 at 3 months and 0.02±0.14 at 6 months; 90% of fracture sites had precise anatomy at 1 week and 96% at 6 months; 96% fracture sites had no displacement the of correlation between condyle and articular fossa at 1 week and 98% at 6 months; 1 fracture site had screw loosening at 2 months; 88% fracture sites had stage-4 radiographic bone healing at 6 months. Conclusion: Endoscopic-assisted intraoral approach for osteosynthesis of MSC fractures have provided the esthetic and functional success and good bone healing.