title: Overlapping allograft in reconstructive surgery for malignant bone tumours in paediatric patients: a preliminary report.
abstract: The use of allografts for the treatment of bone tumours in children is limited by nonunion and the difficulty of finding a suitable graft. Furthermore, appositional growth can't be expected of an allograft. We used an overlapping allograft in 11 children, with a mean age of ten years (4 to 15), with a mean follow-up of 24.1 months (20 to 33). There were five intercalary and six intra-articular resections, and the tumours were in the femur in six cases and the humerus in five. Rates of union, times to union, remodelling patterns and allograft-associated complications were evaluated. No allograft was removed due to a complication. Of the 16 junctional sites, 15 (94%) showed union at a mean of 3.1 months (2 to 5). Remodelling between host and allograft was seen at 14 junctions at a mean of five months (4 to 7). The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score was 26.5 of 30 (88.3%). One case of nonunion and another with screw protrusion required re-operation. Overlapping allografts have the potential to shorten time to union, decrease rates of nonunion and have positive appositional growth effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, 215-4, Gongneungdong, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-706, Korea.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006811:Humerus / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome