AIM: To study the effectiveness and safety of 3D printing pre-shaped titanium mesh in the repair of orbital fracture compared with the conventional titanium mesh.

METHODS: The clinical data of 72 eyes of 72 patients who received surgery for orbital fracture from June 2015 to March 2016 in our department were retrospectively analyzed.All patients were divided into two groups, including pre-shaped titanium mesh implantation group(observation group), 40 cases, conventional titanium mesh implantation group(control group), 32 cases. The control group was treated by physicians according to the experience of manual bending and shaping titanium mesh implantation ipsilateral orbital pad,when the observation group by the physicians directly in the pre-shaped titanium mesh of 3D printing. The eyeball exophthalmos, eye movement and diplopia were evaluated in the next 1, 3 and 6mo after the operation, and we compared the differences between the two methods at different time points and the differences of the indexes between the two materials at the same time point.

RESULTS: The cure rate of the observation group and the control group about eyeball exophthalmos values was 84% and 59%, the difference of the two groups was statistically significant(P<0.05). The cure rates of diplopia of the two groups were 80% and 70% without significant difference(P>0.05). The cure rate of limited ocular movement of observation group was 73%, that of control group was 66%, there was no statistical significance(P>0.05). During the follow-up period, there was no infection in the two groups, no titanium mesh shift, extrusion, deformation and rejection or other complications.

CONCLUSION: Pre-shaped titanium mesh shaping orbital implantation with no need for shaping the mesh in the operation, can shorten the operation time, make accurate reconstruction of orbital wall, reduce complications and improve the curative effect.