Vertical plating offers benefit for mandibular body fractures

(HealthDay)—For treatment of mandibular body fractures, vertical plating offers equal or greater resistance to torsional forces and is associated with reduced incidence of postoperative complications and operative time, according to a study published online May 23 in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery.

Daniel Demesh, M.D., from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, and colleagues used a mandible fracture model with synthetic replicas to compare resistance to torsional forces of different plating configurations. In addition, the authors performed a retrospective comparative review of the medical records of 84 patients with mandibular body fractures.

The researchers found that the vertical box plate provided greater stability and 150 percent of the resistance against torsional forces compared with traditional linear plating during biomechanical analysis. Vertical plating was associated with reduced incidence of postoperative neurosensory disturbance compared with box plating in the retrospective review (zero patients versus 38 percent of patients) and a lower risk of any complication (33 versus 62 percent). Reduced operative time was seen in association with vertical plating.

"Further randomized prospective studies are needed to demonstrate if improved resistance to rotational torsion translates to improvement in clinical outcomes," the authors write.

One author reported intellectual property for oblique vertical plates, which are related to the devices assessed in this study.

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