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Victor Kizhner, MD; Ami Barak, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(7):768-770.

Objective  Since a known growth-of-cartilage framework is used for reconstruction of microtia under the Brent technique, we set out to address the behavior of the framework under the Nagata technique.

Design  A retrospective analysis of costal cartilage auricular reconstruction procedures.

Patients  A total of 28 patients who underwent costal cartilage auricular reconstruction between 1998 and 2005.

Interventions  Reconstruction of microtia using the 2-stage Nagata technique.

Main Outcome Measures  The parameters checked were patient age at the time of reconstruction, follow-up time, and measurements of the auricular framework height and width both at the time of implantation (represented by the template size) and at final follow-up.

Results  A significant change in auricular height and width was observed. The height decreased by 3.1%, while the width increased by 4.0%. This change was not influenced by follow-up time.

Conclusions  Auricular reconstruction with the Nagata technique was undertaken when the patients were aged 9 to 10 years, when the auricle had reached nearly its final size. According to our patient sample, it is our opinion that a policy change is unjustifiable.

Author Affiliations: Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Sieff Medical Center, Safed, Israel (Dr Kizhner); Department of Plastic Surgery, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel (Dr Barak).