[Clinical therapeutic strategies of refracture after bone transport for tibial bone defect].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical therapeutic strategies of refracture after Ilizarov bone transport technique in the treatment of tibial bone defect. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 19 patients with infected tibial bone defect treated by Ilizarov bone transport technique and then refracture from August 2010 to January 2020, including 18 males and 1 female with an average age of (37.7±13.0) years old ranging from 15 to 66 years old. Cause of injury invlved falling injury in 4 cases, crashing injury 1 case, crushing injury in 1 case and without obvious injury history in 13 cases. The ipsilateral distal femoral fracture in 2 cases occurred before the external fixator of tibia was removed, and the other 17 cases had a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 30 months after the external fixator had been removed. The site of refracture was at regenerative zone in 8 cases, at docking site in 9 cases, at ipsilateral femoral shaft in 2 cases. According to the modified Simpson classification proposed by the author, the refracture was classified. The treatment of refracture include plaster splint, traction or external fixation. Bone healing and function were evaluated according to the standards of the Association for the Study and Application of the Method of Ilizarov(ASAMI). RESULTS: All patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 9 to 17 months with an average of (12.3±3.2) months. According to the modified Simpson classification, there were 3 cases of type Ⅰa, 1 case of type Ⅰb, 3 cases of type Ⅰc, 1 case of type Ⅱ, 9 cases of type Ⅲ and 2 cases of type Ⅴ. All the refractures healed without infection or malunion. The fracture healing time of conservative treatment for 6 cases were 3, 5, 3, 2, 2, 2 months fespectively;and the healing time of fracture treated by surgery for 13 cases was 2 to 6 months, with an average of(4.4±1.4) months. According to ASAMI evaluation criteria, bony results showed all patients obtained excellent results, and functional results showed 6 patients got excellent results, 13 good beacause of ankle or knee stiffness. CONCLUSION: The modified Simpson classification could contain most clinical types of refracture after bone transport, and the external fixation is a simple and effective method for refracture.

Percutaneous Repair Technique for Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture with Assistance of Kirschner Wire.

The aim of this study is to introduce a self-designed, minimally invasive technique for repairing an acute Achilles tendon rupture percutaneously. Comparing with the traditional open repair, the new technique provides obvious advantages of minimized operation-related lesions, fewer wound complications as well as a higher healing rate. However, a percutaneous technique without direct vision may be criticized by its insufficient anastomosis of Achilles tendon and may also lead to the lengthening of the Achilles tendon and a reduction in the strength of the gastrocnemius. To address the potential problems, we have improved our technique using a percutaneous Kirschner wire leverage process before suturing, which can effectively recover the length of the Achilles tendon and ensure the broken ends are in tight contact. With this improvement in technique, we have great confidence that it will become the treatment of choice for acute Achilles tendon ruptures.

Management of traumatic hemipelvectomy: an institutional experience on four consecutive cases.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The incidence of traumatic hemipelvectomy is rare, but it is a devastating injury. Recently, an increasing number of patients with traumatic hemipelvectomy are admitted to trauma centers alive due to improvements of the pre-hospital care. Successful management requires prompt recognition of the nature of this injury and meticulous surgical technique. We present our successful experiences on four cases of traumatic hemipelvectomy in the past nine years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Four cases with traumatic hemipelvectomy were admited to our hospital from June 21, 2002 to September 3, 2011. All injuries occurred due to vehicle accident and all patients were in a state of severe hypotension, with two of them having anal lacerations. These four cases were treated immediately with resuscitation, control of hemorrhage, early amputation, repeated debridement and closure of the wounds. An angiographic embolization was given to control hemorrhage in two of the cases preoperatively. One case underwent fecal diversion. Wound infection occurred in all of cases which was successfully controlled by repeated debridements, effective anti-biotic regimen, split-thickness skin grafts. RESULTS: All four cases were saved successfully with well-healed wounds during follow up from 1 to 7 years. They were able to walk by themself using crutches. CONCLUSION: Adhering to the surgery principles of damage control including appropriate resuscitation, hemorrhage control, coagulopathy correction and multiple debridements and closure of the wounds in reasonable period of time can save the life of cases suffering from severe pelvic ring injury.