Accordion technique combined with minimally invasive percutaneous decortication for the treatment of bone non-union

Abstract

BackgroundA variety of approaches have been used to treat oligotrophic or atrophic non-union. Conventional methods are often associated with great operative trauma, increased blood loss, a risk of re-infection, higher medical costs, and complications at the donor site. This study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of the accordion technique combined with Minimally Invasive Percutaneous Decortication (MIPD) for these types of bone non-union. MethodsFrom January 2010 to December 2015, 20 patients with long bone aseptic non-unions of the lower extremities without bone defects who were treated with the accordion technique combined with MIPD. The limb-length discrepancy (LLD) was less than 2cm in all patients. None of the patients received autogenous bone grafts during follow-up. All surgeries were performed by the same surgeon, and the modified Application of methods of Ilizarov (ASAMI) criteria were used to evaluate the operative effectiveness. ResultsA total of 20 patients were included in this study, and 1 patient was lost during follow-up. Fifteen of these patients presented with oligotrophic non-unions, and 5 patients presented with atrophic non-unions. The average follow-up period in these patients was 12.1 months (range: 8–42 months). The alternative compression and distraction procedure was repeated 1–3 times. Blood loss was 30 to 250ml during surgery. Ultimately, bone union was achieved in 19 patients and failed in 1 patient. The fractures healed within 4–8 months (average time: 5.9 months), and fracture healing was considered excellent in 19 patients and poor in 1 patient. Postoperative function was evaluated as excellent in 9 patients, good in 6 patients, fair in 4 patients, and poor in 1 patient. ConclusionThe accordion technique combined with MIPD, which is a simple, minimally invasive procedure that does not require autologous bone grafting, resulted in a high bone union rate and good postoperative function.