Stability of the Le Fort I Osteotomy With Anterior Internal Fixation Alone: A Case Series

The purpose of this case series was to evaluate the late postsurgical stability of the Le Fort I osteotomy with anterior internal fixation alone and no posterior zygomaticomaxillary buttress internal fixation. Sixty patients with maxillary vertical hyperplasia and mandibular retrognathia underwent a 1-piece Le Fort I osteotomy of the maxilla with superior repositioning and advancement or setback. A bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy for mandibular advancement was also performed in 22 patients. Stabilization of each maxillary osteotomy was achieved using transosseous stainless steel wires and/or 3-hole titanium miniplates in the piriform aperture region bilaterally, with no zygomaticomaxillary buttress internal fixation. (Twelve of the 60 identified patients were available for a late postoperative radiographic evaluation.) Lateral cephalometric radiographs were taken preoperatively (T1), early postoperatively (T2), and late postoperatively (T3) to analyze skeletal movement. These 12 patients (5 male, 7 female) had a mean age of 24.5 years at surgery. Mean time from surgery to T2 was 41.2 days; mean time from surgery to T3 was 14.8 months. One patient received anterior wire osteosynthesis fixation, while 11 patients received both anterior titanium miniplate internal skeletal fixation and anterior wire osteosynthesis fixation. Six patients underwent Le Fort I osteotomy with genioplasty, 1 patient underwent Le Fort I osteotomy with bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy, and 5 patients underwent Le Fort I osteotomy with bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy and genioplasty. These 12 patients all underwent maxillary superior repositioning with either advancement (11 patients) or setback (1 patient). Statistically significant surgical (T2-T1) changes were found in all variables measured. In late postsurgical measurements (T3-T2), all landmarks in the horizontal and vertical plane showed statistically significant skeletal stability. This case series suggests that anterior internal fixation alone in cases of 1-piece Le Fort I maxillary superior repositioning with advancement has good late postoperative skeletal stability.