[Cranioplasty of extensive defects of the cranial vault bones using a "Codubix" prosthesis].

In the years 1980-1987 in the Neurosurgery Department, Medical Academy in Lódź in 21 patients aged 12 to 59 years covering of cranial vault bone defects over 100 cm2 of area was done using of cranioplasty polypropylene-polyester knitted fabric Codubix. The size of the implanted prostheses was from 100 to 430 cm2. The time from bone defect occurrence to cranioplasty was from 4 weeks to 18 years. Cranial defects resulted from treatment of trauma complications in 10 cases, treatment of intracranial tumours in 7, aneurysms in 2 and intracranial infections in 2 cases. The follow-up after cranioplasty was from 3 to 10 years. In 18 cases (85.7%) good and very good therapeutic results were obtained. Three patients required removal of prosthesis because of purulent complication, in 2 of these cases high risk of infection was present before the operation. Codubix prosthesis was particularly useful for filling giant of cranial bones.