Objective To evaluate the limbs shortening and re-lengthening in the treatment of tibial infectious bone defect and chronic osteomyelitis. Methods Between January 2011 and April 2016, 19 cases of tibial infectious bone defect and chronic osteomyelitis were treated with the limbs shortening and re-lengthening technique. There were 13 males and 6 females, aged from 22 to 62 years (mean, 44 years). The causes of injury included traffic accident injury in 16 cases, crush injury in 1 case, and falling from height in 2 cases. One patient was infected after plate internal fixation of closed tibial fracture and 18 patients after external fixation of open tibial fractures (Gustilo type IIIB). The mean previous operation times was 3 times (range, 2-5 times). The time from injury to bone transport operation was 3-11 months (mean, 6.5 months). The bone defect length was 2.0-5.5 cm (mean, 4.3 cm) after debridement. After tibial shortening, limb peripheral blood supply should be checked after release of the tourniquet. Seven wounds were closed directly, 5 were repaired with adjacent skin flap, 5 were repaired with sural neurovascular flap, 1 was repaired with medial head of gastrocnemius muscle flap, and 1 underwent skin grafting. Single arm external fixator or ring type external fixator were used, and completely sawed off between 2 sets of external fixation screws at proximal and distal metaphysis of the tibia. Limb lengthening was performed after 1 week with the speed of 1 mm/d. Results All patients were followed up 10-36 months with an average of 14 months. Two cases delayed healing of the wound after operation, and the other wounds healed primarily. Natural healing of the opposite end of the bone were found in 18 cases, and 1 case had nonunion in the opposite end of the bone because of incomplete removal of lesion bone. There were 5 cases of slow growth of the callus, and healed smoothly by " accordion” technology and injecting red bone marrow in 4 cases, and by bone grafting and internal fixation in 1 case. The time of bone lengthening was 1-3 months, the prolongation index was 1.6-2.7 cm/month (2.20 cm/month). The bone healing time was 7-13 months (mean, 11.1 months). According to tibial stem diagnostic criteria Johner-Wruhs score, 9 cases were excellent, 8 cases were good, 2 cases were fair, with an excellent and good rate of 89.5%. Conclusion Limbs shortening and re-lengthening is an effective method for the treatment of tibial infectious bone defect and chronic osteomyelitis, with the advantages of improving the immediate alignment of the osteotomy ends, significantly shortening the bone healing time of opposite ends of bone.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of induced membrane technique in the treatment of infectious bone defect. Methods Thirty-six patients (37 bone lesions) with infectious bone defects were treated with induced membrane technique between January 2011 and June 2014. There were 28 males and 8 females with an average age of 36 years (range, 20-68 years). All bone defects were post-traumatic infectious bone defect. The bone defect was located at the tibia and fibula in 24 cases (25 bone lesions), at femurs in 6 cases (6 bone lesions), at ulnas and radii in 2 cases (2 bone lesions), at calcanei in 3 cases (3 bone lesions), and at clavicle in 1 case (1 bone lesion). The average time between onset and the treatment of induced membrane technique was 6.2 months (range, 0.5-36.0 months); 15 patients were acute infections (disease duration was less than 3 months). At the first stage, after the removal of internal fixator (applicable for the patients who had internal fixation), complete debridement of infection necrotic bone tissue and surrounding soft tissue was performed and the bone defects were filled with antibiotic-impregnated cement spacers. If the bone was unstable after debridement, external fixator or plaster could be used for stabilization. Patients received sensitive antibiotics postoperatively. At the second stage (usually 6-8 weeks later), the cement spacer were removed, with preservation of the induced membrane formed by the spacer, and filled the bone defect with autologous iliac bone graft within the membrane. Results The hospitalization time after debridement was 17-30 days (mean, 22.2 days), and the hospitalization time after the second stage was 7-14 days (mean, 10 days). All the flaps healed uneventfully in 16 cases treated with local flap transposition or free flap grafting after debridement. One patient of femur fracture received Ilizarov treatment after recurrence of infection at 11 months after operation; 1 patient of distal femoral fracture received amputation after recurrence of infection at 1 month after operation; 1 patient of distal end of tibia and fibula fractures received ankle arthrodesis after repeated debridements due to the recurrence of infection; 1 patient of tibia and fibula fractures lost to follow-up. The other 32 patients (33 bone lesions) were followed up 1-5 years (mean, 2 years) without infection recurrence, and the infection control rate was 91.7% (33/36). All the patients had bony union, and the healing time was 4-12 months (mean, 7.5 months); no refracture occurred. One patient of femur bone defect had a lateral angulation of 15° and leg discrepancy of 1.5 cm. Superficial pin infection was observed in 7 cases and healed after intensive wound care and oral antibiotics. Adjacent joint function restriction were observed in 6 cases at last follow-up. Conclusion Induced membrane technique is a simple and reliable technique for the treatment of infectious bone defect. The technique is not limited to the size of the bone defect and the effectiveness is satisfactory.
Objective To analyze the effectiveness of single three-dimensional (3D)-printed microporous titanium prostheses and flap combined prostheses implantation in the treatment of large segmental infectious bone defects in limbs. MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 76 patients with large segmental infectious bone defects in limbs who were treated between January 2019 and February 2024 and met the selection criteria. Among them, 51 were male and 25 were female, with an age of (47.7±9.4) years. Of the 76 patients, 51 had no soft tissue defects (single prostheses group), while 25 had associated soft tissue defects (flap combined group). The single prostheses group included 28 cases of tibial bone defects, 11 cases of femoral defects, 5 cases of humeral defects, 4 cases of radial bone defects, and 3 cases of metacarpal, or carpal bone defects, with bone defect length ranging from 3.5 to 28.0 cm. The flap combined group included 3 cases of extensive dorsum of foot soft tissue defects combined with large segmental metatarsal bone defects, 19 cases of lower leg soft tissue defects combined with large segmental tibial bone defects, and 3 cases of hand and forearm soft tissue defects combined with metacarpal, carpal, or radial bone defects, with bone defect length ranging from 3.8 to 32.0 cm and soft tissue defect areas ranging from 8 cm×5 cm to 33 cm×10 cm. In the first stage, vancomycin-loaded bone cement was used to control infection, and flap repair was performed in the flap combined group. In the second stage, 3D-printed microporous titanium prostheses were implanted. Postoperative assessments were performed to evaluate infection control and bone integration, and pain release was evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) score. Results All patients were followed up postoperatively, with an average follow-up time of (35.2±13.4) months. In the 61 lower limb injury patients, the time of standing, walk with crutches, and fully bear weight were (2.2±0.6), (3.9±1.1), and (5.4±1.1) months, respectively. The VAS score at 1 year postoperatively was significantly lower than preoperative one (t=−10.678, P<0.001). At 1 year postoperatively, 69 patients (90.8%) showed no complication such as infection, fracture, prosthesis displacement, or breakage, and X-ray films indicated good integration at the prosthesis-bone interface. According to the Paley scoring system for the healing of infectious bone defects, the results were excellent in 37 cases, good in 29 cases, fair in 3 cases, and poor in 7 cases. In the single prostheses group, during the follow-up, there was 1 case each of femoral prostheses fracture, femoral infection, and tibial infection, with a treatment success rate of 94.1% (48/51). In lower limb injury patients, the time of fully bear weight was (5.0±1.0) months. In the flap combined group, during the follow-up, 1 case of tibial fixation prostheses screw fracture occurred, along with 2 cases of recurrent foot infection in diabetic patients and 1 case of tibial infection. The treatment success rate was 84.0% (21/25). The time of fully bear weight in lower limb injury patients was (5.8±1.2) months. The overall infection eradication rate for all patients was 93.4% (71/76). Conclusion The use of 3D-printed microporous titanium prostheses, either alone or in combination with flaps, for the treatment of large segmental infectious bone defects in the limbs results in good effectiveness with a low incidence of complications. It is a feasible strategy for the reconstruction of infectious bone defects.