Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the demographic data as well as other relevant data pertaining to the management of patients with maxillofacial injury in a Malaysian government regional hospital.
Study design: Medical records of 313 patients who sustained maxillofacial injury treated in Kajang Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia over a 5-year period (1998-2002) were collected. Data regarding age, gender and race, etiology of injury, site of injury, other associated injuries and treatment undertaken were analyzed.
Results: Two hundred and forty-nine male (79.6%) and 64 female patients (20.4%) were treated for maxillofacial trauma. The patients' age range from 1 to 67 years old, with a median age of 23 years old. A high number of Malays (60.1%) sustained maxillofacial injury, followed by Indians (16%), Chinese (13.4%) and other races (10.5%). Road traffic accident was the main etiology for maxillofacial injury with 230 cases (73.5%), followed by fall (16.6%), assault (5.4%), industrial accident (2.6%), sports injuries (0.6%) and others (1.3%). Mandibular fractures were the most common, occurring in 83.1% of the cases while the midfacial fractures accounted for 16.9%. Majority of patients were treated with closed reduction and intermaxillary fixation (88.1%) and 11.9% underwent open reduction and internal fixation.
Conclusion: Road traffic accident involving motorcyclists was the main cause of maxillofacial trauma in Malaysia. The most common facial fracture was the mandibular fracture. Non-surgical manipulation of fracture was the most common treatment carried out in this hospital.
Keywords: Kajang Hospital; Malaysia; Maxillofacial trauma; Retrospective study.