Telescopic mating technique for bulk allograft reconstruction.

Abstract

Bulk allograft reconstruction plays an important role in limb-salvage reconstructive surgery but is complicated by nonunion in up to one-third of cases. Because allograft-host healing is mediated via creeping substitution, intimate bone contact is desirable. Intraoperative assessment and optimization of the allograft-host junction site using a conventional transverse osteotomy is challenging and may result in slight gapping. Speculatively, this may result in longer healing times and may contribute to the high rate of non-union. Minimizing the nonunion rate and time to union are of value. This article describes the telescopic mating technique, which allows for substantially greater bone contact across the allograft-host junction site.