To determine whether late complications after septoplasty in growing septal cartilage in children can be prevented by the use of a resorbable polydioxanone (PDS) foil in combination with the cartilage. Design: Animal study with 45 young rabbits, operated on at the nasal septum. Four typical septoplasty procedures were carried out, including elevation of the mucoperichondrium, cartilage excision, and reimplantation of crushed and noncrushed cartilage; for each of the procedures, resorbable PDS foil was used in half of the animals. Observation time ranged from 2 weeks to 5 months, to observe the healing process until complete outgrowth of the septum and complete resorption of the foil were achieved.

One remaining problem of nose surgery is surgical correction of a prepubertal distortion of the septum. Unfortunately, the growing cartilage reacts differently upon a surgical intervention; in most cases this might cause iatrogenic disturbance of the development. Our clinical and histological studies with polydioxanone (PDS) foil in septal reconstruction showed that the PDS foil successfully prevented postoperative sequelae like dislocation of the reimplanted cartilage fragments and recurrent deviation caused by overlapping of the cartilage borders. Furthermore, it seemed to stimulate cartilage regeneration. The question occurs whether the same effect can be expected if growing septal cartilage is supported by the PDS foil. This animal study showed remarkable effects of the resorbable PDS foil in healing and regeneration of the growing septum up to complete resorption of the PDS, which coincidentally paralleled the outgrowth of the septal cartilage in rabbits, such as in cartilage regeneration and in prevention of secondary septal deviations due to bending of the newly formed cartilage or incomplete healing of cut edges.