The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 77, Issue 5 751-759, Copyright © 1995 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Arthrodesis of the knee with a vascularized fibular rotatory graft
MR Rasmussen, AT Bishop and MB Wood
Department of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
We retrospectively reviewed the records of thirteen patients who had been
managed with an arthrodesis of the knee with use of a vascularized graft
from the ipsilateral fibula and fixation with an intramedullary rod. The
indications for the operation included a large skeletal defect secondary to
the resection of a tumor about the knee in eight patients, an infection at
the site of an arthroplasty in four (with failure of a previous
conventional arthrodesis in three of the four), and severe rheumatoid
gonarthrosis as well as a persistent non-union of the distal part of the
femur in one. The average age of the patients at the time of the operation
was forty-three years (range, twenty-six to seventy-six years). Most of the
patients had had multiple previous procedures (thirty-three operations had
been performed in ten patients). Twelve of the thirteen patients had a
solid fusion and a successful result after an average duration of follow-up
of fifty-one months (range, eight to ninety-three months). The remaining
patient, who had had four previous arthroplasties, had a recurrence of an
infection seven months after the operation and was managed with an
amputation. Six complications--including two superficial wound infections,
one deep wound infection, one deep venous thrombosis, one transient
peroneal-nerve palsy, and one delayed union--occurred in three patients.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Technorati What's this?
