TITANIUM MESH VERSUS AUTOLOGOUS BONE GRAFT CRANIOPLASTY

Objective: To compare the efficacy of titanium mesh to autologous bone grafting in cranioplasty and assessing complications like seroma and abscess formations and subjective measures of pain. Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Neurosurgery department, CMH Rawalpindi, from Aug 2017 to Dec 2018. Methodology: Twenty patients (Women=12, Men=8) were randomly assigned to Titanium Mesh (TM) group and 20 patients (Women=7, Men=13) to Autologous Bone Graft (ABG) group. All were subjected to cranioplasty using Titenium Mesh and Autologous Bone Graft procedures to assess cranial seroma and abscess formation and pain. Results: Comparison of pain on day 3 showed seven (35%) patients in titenium mesh group experienced pain compared to 14 (70%) patients in the autologous bone graft group, which was statistically significant (p