RESUMEN
Results from the first 135 cases of tibial fractures treated with a functional below-the-knee-brace demonstrate uneventful healing while function of the knee and ankle is maintained. Rapid healing of the fracture in most patients suggests that the early resumption of nearly normal physiological conditions in the limb is favorable to timely and uninterrupted osteogenesis.
RESUMEN
Rotation-plasty provides useful knee function and permits use of what is essentially an end-weight-bearing below-the knee prosthesis. This principle of rotating the foot was first used by Borggreve in 1930(3), in a patient with a short femur secondary to infection. Since then, this procedure has been used in congenital short femurs(4,6,7,), malignant bone tumors of the distal femur(1,5)and compound fracture with wide bone defect around the knee(2) We have performed this procedure in a case of focal femoral deficiency with 14cm shorter than the opposite femur due to long standing persistant chronic osteomyelitis in the mid-shaft femur of a nine-year old Korean boy and gave the good result with a conventional but slightly modified below- the-knee brace. The inverted foot was good to control the brace as a below-knee stump and heel functioned as a patella to support the body weight.