The authors present the findings of a retrospective study included 63 patients had rhino-septoplasty using autologous costal cartilage (ACC) and 20 had rhino-septoplasty using irradiated homologous costal cartilage (IHCC) to compare the clinical results of major augmentation rhinoplasty using ACC vs. IHCC and analyse the histologic properties of both types of cartilage. The details of the surgical procedures and complications, including warping, infection, resorption, and / or donor-site morbidity, were evaluated by reviewing medical records and facial photographs. Patients’ subjective satisfaction with aesthetic and functional results was evaluated using a questionnaire. Among observed complications, only notable resorption occurred more frequently in patients using IHCC.
In subjective evaluations of aesthetic satisfaction, patients who received ACC showed significantly greater satisfaction than did those who received IHCC. However, there was no between-group difference in subjective functional outcomes. Regarding objective aesthetic outcomes, all scores for both ACC and IHCC were between good and excellent. Histologic analyses showed larger, more evenly distributed, uniform chondrocytes and more collagens and proteoglycan contents in ACC than in IHCC. As the conclusion of this study, those receiving ACC for rhino-septoplasty showed superior aesthetic satisfaction compared with patients receiving IHCC. ACC also had less frequent notable resorption with better histologic properties compared to IHCC. This article also shows that autologous costal cartilage is an ideal graft material with less chance of long-term resorption.
