TREATMENT OF LOCALIZED FIBROCYSTIC CAVITIES IN BONE BY CURETTAGE AND PACKING WITH BONE CHIPS

¹ The New York Orthopaedic Dispensary and Hospital

The results obtained in the twenty-eight patients of the series are shown in Table IV and reveal several interesting comparisons between the three groups. These lesions have a marked tendency to recur locally, as demonstrated by a 39-per-cent. recurrence in this series. It is important to realize that the average time when the recurrences were noted was as late as one year, so that a long follow-up period is necessary. The local recurrences can be treated successfully in the same way as the original lesions, even though some cases may require several procedures before a cure is obtained. The three patients who still have unhealed lesions are all in the osteitis-fibrosa group, and two of them have been lost to the Follow-Up Clinic without having had the second operation which was advised. In the other case there is an unhealed area which has not increased at all over a period of six years. It is so small that further treatment has not been advised.

Although 79 per cent. of the lesions have healed satisfactorily, the variations in the percentage of success among the three groups must be noted. Because of the similarities which have been observed in the behavior of these lesions under treatment, it is believed that curettage and packing with bone chips is an effective method of dealing with them, and that, as larger numbers are accumulated, the percentage result in each group will tend to be more satisfactory.

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