Value of Porous Titanium Alloy Plates for Chest Wall Reconstruction after Resection of Chest Wall Tumors

Abstract

<br/><b>Objective</b>: To explore the value of porous titanium alloy plates for chest wall reconstruction after resectionof chest wall tumors. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: A total of 8 patients with chest wall tumors admitted in ourhospital from Jan. 2006 to Jan. 2009 were selected and underwent tumor resection, then chest wall repair andreconstruction with porous titanium alloy plates for massive chest wall defects. <br/><b>Results</b>: All patients completedsurgery successfully with tumor resection-induced chest wall defects being 6.5×7 cm~12×15.5 cm in size. Twoweeks after chest wall reconstruction, only 1 patient had subcutaneous fluidify which healed itself after pressurebandaging following fluid drainage. Postoperative pathological reports showed 2 patients with costicartilagetumors, 1 with squamous cell carcinoma of lung, 1 with lung adeno-carcinoma, 1 with malignant lymphoma ofchest wall, 2 with chest wall metastasis of breast cancers and 1 with chest wall neurofibrosarcoma. All patientshad more than 2~5 years of follow-up, during which time 1 patient with breast cancer had surgical treatmentdue to local recurrence after 7 months and none had chest wall reconstruction associated complications. Themean survival time of patients with malignant tumors was (37.3±5.67) months. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Porous titaniumalloy plates are safe and effective in the chest wall reconstruction after resection of chest tumors.