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Michael D. Maves, MD, Janusz Bardach, MD, D. Bradley Welling, MD, and David E. Schuller, MD, of the University of Iowa (Iowa City) reported the fate of irradiated homologous cartilage when used in various surgical procedures to reconstruct the face. This is a follow-up of a group of patients described by Schuller et al in 1977, and it was presented at the spring scientific meeting of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Denver. These workers reported a ten-to 15-year assessment of approximately 40% of patients from the original series who had undergone graft implantation. The authors report that checkup at up to ten years after the implant showed 28% of the grafts underwent total reabsorption of the grafted implant. In the 11-to 16-year period, however, the astonishing total of 75% of the grafts became totally reabsorbed. The numbers involved in the study are certainly adequate to