The Use of Autologous Tibia Strut Grafts to Enhance Bone Healing of an Infected Long-Bone Nonunion

Abstract

We treated five patients with an infected non-union of the femur and tibia with autologous tibia strut grafts. All patients had bone defects ranging from three to nine centimeters. Three patients suffered for more than seven years from chronic osteitis. Our objective was to describe this grafting technique and its results. We focused on healing time, postoperative complications and functional recovery. We retrospectively studied five patients with an infected non-union of the lower limb who had undergone previous surgeries to overcome the bone healing problem. In this group of patients, we had four femur non-union and one tibia non-union. All of them had a previous infection episode, in which medical and surgical therapy was needed. Of the participants, three were men, and two were females with a mean age of 43.3 years (28-55).