Congenital pseudoarthrosis of the tibia – results of treatment by free fibular transfer and associated procedures – preliminary study.

Abstract

We evaluated 16 children with congenital pseudoarthrosis of the tibia treated with contralateral fibular graft, with the aim to report the difficulties and clinical results in the affected limb after consolidation. Sixty-three percent of the children had characteristics of neurofibromatosis. Consolidation was achieved after the main surgery in 37%of patients, and the remainder, after multiple procedures. Consolidation time was longer for male patients. Refracture was observed in six patients and recurrence of the anterior bowing in six; four of these patients were submitted to correction. Four patients presented femur overgrowth. The average shortening of the affected leg was 3.6 cm. The proposed procedure leads to a long treatment course with many reoperations for correction of possible complications.