Five-Year Experience with Skin-Penetrating Bone-Anchored Implants in the Temporal Bone

Abstract

A method for stable integration of titaniumim-plants in bone tissue has been developed at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Screw shaped implants have been inserted in the temporal bone using a delicate surgi cal technique. After healing-in of the implants it is, in a later seance, possible to penetrate the skin to establish a reaction-free percutaneous passage. An up to 5-year clini cal follow-up has shown the possibilities of this new meth od in the treatment of patients with e.g. certain hearing disorders or facial defects after tumour surgery.