Clinical effectiveness and influential factors of maxillary rehabilitation with zygomatic implant following tumor resection.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and influential factors of maxillary rehabilitation with zygomatic implant and prosthesis after tumor resection. METHODS Thirty-six patients with maxillary defects were collected prospectively in this study and received zygomatic implant and prosthesis for maxillary rehabilitation in the Department of Stomatology of the Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China from March 2007 to May 2010. The speech intelligibility (SI) and masticatory efficiency of pre-rehabilitation and post-rehabilitation at one, 6, 12, and 24 months were measured. The relationships between the following factors (oro-nasal communication, hard-palate resection, soft-palate resection, retention teeth) and SI value were analyzed. The relationships between the following factors (oro-nasal communication, retention teeth, the extent of maxillary defect, tumor recurrence) and absorbance value were analyzed. RESULTS The SI values and absorbance values of post-rehabilitation at one, 6, 12, and 24 months were higher than that of pre-rehabilitation values (p<0.05). Linear regression analysis revealed that oro-nasal communication had a highly significant influence on the SI value of pre-rehabilitation (p<0.05), while soft-palate resection had a highly significant influence on that of post-rehabilitation (p<0.05). Oro-nasal communication had a highly significant influence on the absorbance value of pre-rehabilitation (p<0.05), while maxillary defect had a highly significant influence on that of post-rehabilitation (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Zygomatic implant and prosthesis improved the near and long-term effectiveness of phonetic and masticatory function, and elevated life quality of patients with maxillary tumor resection. Zygomatic implant and prosthesis are an effective rehabilitation remedy for maxillary defects resulting from tumor resection.