Treatment of infective long bone defect by external fixator combination of iliac bone graft with deep iliac circumflex vessels / 中华显微外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the technique and clinical effect of infective long bone defect treated by external fixator combination of iliac bone graft with deep iliac circumflex vessels.Methods All 28 patients with posttraumatic infective long bone defect were treated by external fixator and iliac bone graft with deep iliac circumflex vessels from July, 2008 to June, 2014.The length of the bone defect was from 3 to 7 cm (averaged 5.1 cm), including tibia defect in 13 patients, femoral defect in 7, humeral defect in 4, and ulna and radius defect respectively in 2, and 17 patients also with soft tissue defect.After thorough debridement, the bone defect was fixed by the external fixator, and then VSD was applied for irrigation drainage.As fresh granulation tissue growth, iliac bone vascularized by deep iliac circumflex vessels, size from size 5.0 cm× 3.0 cm to 8.0 cm× 3.5 cm, was transplanted.As for composite defect of infective bone and soft tissue in 17 patients, 6 cases of them was repaired with the iliac flap combined free flap, three with the iliac flap combined local skin flap, 4 cases with the iliac flap doubled with both the deep and the shallow iliac circumflex vessels, 3 cases with the circumflex iliac artery chimeric perforators flap and 1 with random iliac osteocutaneous flap.Affected limb function was graded with Enneking's system.Results All transplanted vascularized iliac bone survived, postoperative infection controlled well, but there were 2 patients of iliac flap partial necrosis.After dressing exchange and reoperation, the wound all repaired again.Twenty-six patients followed from 8 to 50 months, with an average of 18 months while 2 patients lost postoperative.The osseous healing time of the iliac bone graft was an average of 6.5 months, 25 patients healed well but 1 case encouraged tibia fracture again.Appearance of the limb also recovered satisfactorily.Twenty-six patients had the average limb function restored in 89.7％.There was no obvious complication in the donor.Conclusion It is an effective technical method to treat infective long bone defect by external fixator combination of iliac bone graft with deep iliac circumflex vessels, which can not only fix and bridge bone defects and enhance bone healing, but also obliterate dead space and resist local infection by ensuring blood supply.But the method is suitable for the receipt site infection under control and the length of the long bone defect less than 10 cm.