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Study finds more complications with pegged vs. nonpegged orbital implants
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Patients implanted with a freestanding polycarbonate pegged orbital implant had a higher incidence of complications than patients who received a nonpegged implant, a retrospective study found.
Daniel K. Fahim, MD, and colleagues reviewed data for 103 patients who received hydroxyapatite orbital implants involving either freestanding polycarbonate pegging or no pegging.
The researchers found that infection occurred significantly more often in patients who received the pegged implant. These patients had a 42.9% infection rate vs. a 19.5% infection rate in the nonpegged group. In addition, 15 of the 21 patients (71.4%) in the pegged group experienced complications "unique" to freestanding polycarbonate pegging, according to the study.
Overall, 95.2% of patients in the pegged group and 58.5% of patients in the nonpegged group experienced a complication.
"In addition, there was an average of 3.1 complications per patient in the pegged group compared with an average of 1.9 complications per patient in the nonpegged group (P = .01)," the authors wrote.
The study is published in the May/June issue of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.