Abstract Objective To evaluate preventative and corrective techniques for postoperative temporal wasting. Data Sources PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, and SCOPUS databases. Review Methods Included studies mentioned temporal wasting and its synonymous terms, were associated with a neurosurgical intervention, or discussed preventative or corrective techniques for temporal wasting. Results A total of 57 studies were included, comprising 2378 patients with a mean age of 42.03 years. Patient sex was reported in 52 papers, and 52.8% (1091/2078) were female. Most studies were case reports and case series (n = 29). The most common operative interventions performed were craniotomy (648/2378, 27.2%) and craniectomy (307/2378, 12.9%). Temporal wasting was noted in 397 of 1241 (32.0%) patients following neurosurgical procedures. Of patients receiving preventative techniques such as modified approaches to pterional craniotomy or customized implants, 17.7% (191/1077) reported temporal wasting. Reconstructive techniques included implants (n = 20 studies), autologous fat grafting (n = 5 studies), free or pedicled flap (n = 7 studies). Patient satisfaction was mentioned in 19 studies (565 patients). Within this cohort, 31 (5.5%) patients experienced postoperative temporal wasting. However, 448 (79.3%) were satisfied with their postoperative outcomes. Complications after both preventive and corrective techniques were reported in 124 (5.2%) patients, of which need for an additional reconstructive procedure was most common (29/124, 23.4%) followed by infection (23/124, 18.5%) and wound dehiscence (23/124, 18.5%). Conclusion Temporal wasting is a common outcome after neurosurgical procedures. Fat grafting, implants, and free flap procedures have been used to achieve satisfactory outcomes.
Rothka et al. (Mon,) studied this question.