title: Replacement of the distal femur and proximal tibia with frozen allografts.
abstract: Eighty-eight osteoarticular distal femoral allografts and 68 proximal tibial allografts have been transplanted at the authors' institution from 1958 to 1970. These allografts were used in limb-sparing operations performed after the diagnosis of benign or malignant tumors. All allografts were preserved by freezing to -70 degrees or -30 degrees. Allograft fixation technique depended either on press fitting of the allograft host junction or on quadrangular titanium intramedullary rods. The most prevalent long-term complication was the time-dependent development of destructive arthrosis. After excluding patients with tumor failures (8.3%) and those with failures caused by infections, amputations, or allograft removal without subsequent replacement (5%), 135 patients remained. In this group of patients, after treatment of complications, good or excellent results were obtained in 31% of patients, and fair results in 45% of patients. In the latter group, significant limitation of knee motion existed. The remainder (24%) had either complete limitation of knee motion or had to rely on orthopaedic bracing.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Zatsepin
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Burdygin
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D005266:Femoral Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000209:etiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D011859:Radiography; D013977:Tibia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods; D017211:Treatment Failure