Review article limb salvage surgery in bone tumours.

ABSTRACT

Wide resection of bone tumour has become an accepted treatment in the limb salvage surgery. The reconstruction of the residual defect following wide resection is a major problem. The motions of involved joint after resection of the large tumour can be restored by using either the osteoarticular allograft or endoprosthesis. Osteoarticular graft is suitable for proximal tibial reconstruction and endoprosthesis for distal femoral reconstruction. Resection arthrodesis can be done with autograft, cement or autoclaved tumour bone. Autograft is rarely used to reconstruct the large residual defect. Cement can reconstruct the larger defect, but it is not a suitable procedure on long term basis. The reimplantation of resected autoclaved tumour bone graft is technically a simple and financially a cost saving solution for this difficult problem. It is the most suitable method of reconstruction for the developing and poor countries where the resources for other methods are not available due to financial technical or socio-cultural reasons.