The anatomy of proximal femoral autografts for pelvic reconstruction: a cadaveric study

Abstract

One important reconstruction procedure following pelvic tumor resection is ipsilateral femoral autograft reconstruction in which the autograft is transposed onto the defect and a conventional total hip replacement is implanted in the autograft. The purpose of this study is to provide anatomical evidence for this reconstruction by measurement of proximal femoral autografts. The anatomical study of proximal femoral autografts was performed on thirteen fresh-frozen Chinese male cadavers. Four parameters were measured and included the diameter of the femoral head (DFH), the distance from the apex of the greater trochanter perpendicular to the medial cortex edge of the femoral neck (DAM), the length between the apex of the femoral head and the midpoint of osteotomy line under the lesser trochanter (LAM), and the width of the greater trochanter from anterior to posterior (WG). The correlation between height and each of the various parameters was analyzed using the Spearman's correlation. The median (first and third quartile) values of the measurements for the above mentioned parameters were 49 mm (48-52.7 mm), 58.5 mm (54.5-60.9 mm), 102 mm (96-105.2 mm) and 48 mm (46.5-51 mm), respectively. There was a positive correlation between height and each of these four parameters (P < 0.05). The proximal femoral autograft reconstruction may be a good option after resection of a pelvic tumor because of the provision of biological reconstruction. However, an individual preoperative plan should be carefully performed following evaluating the size of the bone defect after tumor resection and height and width of the remaining greater trochanter prior to conventional hip replacement.