[Fibular transfer in a nine-week-old infant for complete congenital absence of the tibia].

Abstract

The treatment of complete congenital absence of the tibia is controversial. The goal of the treatment is to construct a satisfactorily functioning knee joint, for which fibular transfer was described as an appropriate method. We performed reconstructive surgery using a modified Browns procedure in a nine-week-old boy with Jones type 1 congenital longitudinal deficiency of the tibia. In his final control at three years of age a good outcome was obtained according to the criteria by Epps et al. To our knowledge, this is the youngest patient to receive fibular transfer in the literature, to which we ascribed the satisfactory outcome.