• J Pediatr Orthop · Nov 2005

    Use of free vascularized fibular graft for congenital ulnar pseudarthrosis: surgical decision making in the growing child.

    • Donald S Bae, Peter M Waters, and Christian E Sampson.
    • Harvard Medical School, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. donald.bae@childrens.harvard.edu
    • J Pediatr Orthop. 2005 Nov 1; 25 (6): 755-62.

    AbstractCongenital pseudarthrosis of the ulna may cause growth disturbance and progressive forearm deformity, leading to functional compromise of the upper extremity. Treatment is challenging, and surgical decision making must take into account three goals of treatment: bony healing, distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) stability, and continued skeletal growth. Four cases of congenital ulnar pseudarthrosis treated with free vascularized fibular graft are presented here. In two cases, the vascularized fibular graft included the proximal fibular epiphysis to reconstruct the DRUJ and ulnocarpal joints. Average age of the four patients at time of vascularized fibular grafting was 10 years (range 3-16 years). Patients had undergone up to three previous failed operations. A step-cut osteotomy technique with rigid internal fixation was used in all patients. Donor-site distal tibiofibular arthrodesis was performed in skeletally immature patients when appropriate. At average follow-up of 60 months (range 33-83 months), all patients achieved bony union with full wrist range of motion compared with the contralateral extremity. The DRUJ was stable in all patients. Two skeletally immature patients with concomitant epiphyseal transfer showed continued skeletal growth. Two patients nearing skeletal maturity achieved revascularization of the distal ulna. Free vascularized fibular grafting is a successful option in the treatment of congenital ulnar pseudarthrosis. Reconstruction of the distal radioulnar and ulnocarpal joints using concomitant proximal fibular epiphyseal transfer should be considered in the skeletally immature patient with distal ulnar involvement.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.