Mid-term follow-up of reconstruction with liquid nitrogen-inactivated autologous bone graft in patients with diaphyseal malignant tumours / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the mid-term efficacy of liquid nitrogen-inactivated autologous tumor segment bone replantation for repairing bone defects after resection of malignant tumors in the long bone shaft.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 16 patients treated with liquid nitrogen-inactivated autologous bone graft at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital from July 2015 to June 2017 to repair defects caused by malignant tumour resection of the diaphysis. There were 10 males and 6 females with a mean age of 23.4±11.6 years (range, 8-44 years), including 8 classic osteosarcoma, 2 high-grade surface osteosarcoma, 4 Ewing's sarcoma, 1 periosteal osteosarcoma, and 1 undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. Tumors were located in the humerus in 2 cases, in the femur in 8 cases and in the tibia in 6 cases. The mean length of tumor was 12.4±4.8 cm (range, 5.5-26 cm). Postoperative imaging examination was performed every 6 months, and the healing status of the transplanted bone-host bone was evaluated based on the imaging assessment method of the International Society of Limb Salvage (ISOLS) imaging assessment after allogeneic bone transplantation, and the complications were assessed using the Henderson classification. The five-year survival rate for patients and grafted bone was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve.Results:The median follow-up was 64 (60.3, 69.8) months. At the end of follow-up, 13 patients were tumour free and 3 patients died of multiple metastases at 19, 20 and 33 months after surgery. There were 32 osteotomy ends in 16 patients, of which 30 healed, including 11 metaphyseal osteotomy ends, and the healing time was 9 (6, 12) months after replantation of the tumour segment with liquid nitrogen-inactivated autologous bone; 19 osteotomy ends in the diaphysis took 13 (9, 21) months to heal, with a statistically significant difference in healing time between different sites ( Z=-2.25, P=0.025). Sixteen patients had six complications, including two cases of non-union at the diaphyseal site, one case of failure of internal fixation due to non-union, three cases of recurrence, and no soft tissue complications or infections. One patient with failed internal fixation was treated with a vascularized tip iliac bone graft that healed 6 months after surgery. Another patient died of multiple metastases with 1 unhealed diaphysis left. Three cases of recurrence were all located in the extracranial soft tissue of the autologous tumor segment inactivated by liquid nitrogen. Among them, one case underwent reoperation and local radiotherapy, and there was still no tumor survival after 65 months of surgery, and two cases died due to multiple metastases. The five-year survival rate of patients was 81% as calculated using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and the graft survival rate was 100%. There was no amputation and the limb salvage rate was 100%. Conclusion:The use of liquid nitrogen-inactivated autologous tumor segment bone replantation for reconstruction of bone defects after resection of malignant tumors in the shaft has advantages of higher healing rate, shorter healing time at the metaphyseal end compared to the osteotomy end, fewer complications, and higher survival rate of the replanted bone.