Fracture through united vascularized bone grafts.
The secondary fracture rate in 53 patients undergoing vascularized bone transfer for long-bone reconstruction, with a follow-up period of at least 2 years, is evaluated in this report. Twelve fractures occurred in 10 patients. Characteristics of the fractures were: (1) most occurred at the tibia recipient site; (2) most occurred through the transferred vascularized bone segment, rather than at its junctions; and (3) all fractures occurred within 1 year following bone union. When the fracture occurred in adults, union was relatively easily obtained by application of simple external fixation; on the other hand, union was difficult to obtain in patients with congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
A
A
Minami
T
T
Kimura
O
O
Matsumoto
K
K
Kutsumi
D000328:Adult; D016025:Bone Transplantation; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005592:Fracture Fixation; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011542:Pseudarthrosis / Q000151:congenital / Q000601:surgery; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology