Percutaneous autologous bone marrow injection for treatment of delayed and non-union of long bone: a retrospective study of 45 cases.

BACKGROUND: Non-union of long bones is still a current problem in traumatology. Although corticocancellous bone autograft remains the usual procedure for the treatment of non-union, innovative therapies such as, percutaneous autologous concentrated bone marrow grafting (PABMG), are now appearing. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Over a period of 8 years, 45 non-union of long bones were treated by PABMG in the Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Surgery (University Hospital of Nancy, France): 26 tibiae, 16 femurs, 3 humeri. Efficiency was evaluated by clinical criteria: full weight-bearing without pain, absence of motion at non-union site, and radiological criteria: healing of 3 corticales out of 4. RESULTS: Eighteen out of 28 non-unions at the tibia were healed (69%), 10 at the femur (63%), but none was noticed at the humerus. Some pejorative prognosis factors were noted such as: tobacco, alcohol abuse, diabetes and history of infection at the fracture site. An earlier grafting improved the success rate. The number of CFU-F (Colony Forming Unit Fibroblastic) affected the healing time more than the healing rate. CONCLUSION: The procedure, even though a little invasive, enables the healing of non-union in two out of three cases with less morbidity than conventional procedures. This procedure fits perfectly into the therapeutic arsenal of non-union.

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma presenting as foot metastasis: case report and review of the literature.

Malignant tumors frequently metastasize to bone centrally in the skeleton. Metastatic disease distal to the knee is unusual. Metastasis to the foot (acrometastasis) is rare (0.01%) and is usually a late manifestation of disseminated disease. The purpose of this article is to present a rare case of metastatic renal cell carcinoma with foot metastasis as the primary manifestation along with another rare localization of metastatic disease distal to the knee, in the contralateral tibial diaphysis. To highlight the delay in diagnosis of such a rare condition to consider it in the diagnosis of a painful foot, we also present a review of the literature.

Autologous bone marrow graft and treatment of delayed and non-unions of long bones: technical aspects.

This article reports the technique of percutaneous autologous bone marrow injection as a minimally invasive method alternative to open grafting techniques in the treatment of delayed unions and non-unions. Despite continuous advances in the treatment of long bone fractures, disturbances of healing processes remain a difficult challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. Percutaneous administration of substances with osteoinductive and osteogenic properties offers the advantage of decreased morbidity associated with the classic open grafting techniques. This makes it worth exploring before embarking on more extensive open surgery. The authors present the main technical stages of the percutaneous bone marrow grafting (bone marrow aspiration, concentration, intra-osseous re-injection and post-operative protocol) with a short literature review about this topic.