Bone defect
Prehistory
A 45-year-old male patient suffered a severe polytrauma (train accident) with an open femur fracture and extensive soft tissue damage. Initial treatment was with an external fixator and change to an intramedullary nail. 1 year later the patient presented at ZEM-Germany. There was a bone defect of 8 cm length and a shortening of another 2 cm.
2cm shortening and bow leg position left
8cm bone defect on the left thigh
Treatment
A bone segment is pulled into the defect fully automatically and generates new bone in tow
In a first operation, inferior bone tissue in the defect was removed and a FITBONE distraction intramedullary nail was implanted, with which a so-called "segment shift" and later lengthening is possible. Here, the bone above the defect was gently cut through via a 6 mm skin incision and the lower segment was pulled into the defect fully automatically so that new, biologically high-quality bone tissue could form in the "tow". Due to the long distance of the defect and the additional shortening, this treatment took 100 days, but it was painless and unproblematic, since thanks to the novel intramedullary nail technique no fixator was required on the outside of the leg. Finally, cancellous bone from the iliac crest was added to the contact site near the knee joint and a regular intramedullary nail was implanted again for temporary stabilization during the remodeling phase.
Result
After complete bone consolidation, the patient was able to put full weight on his leg again for the first time 2 years after the accident. The bone was continuously rebuilt, the leg was straight with a residual shortening of less than 1 cm, and the ranges of motion were laterally equal.
Treatment completion
Continuous bone and a straight leg
More information
Contact
Privacy Policy