Abstract
Any intervention for limb with compromised bone and soft tissue in paediatric age group is often studded with complications of flare of infection, wound breakdown, delayed healing or failure of grafting. We report our experience with managing 8 such cases with periosteal sleeve taken from tibia along with fibular grafting.
The lesion was gap non-union following bone sequestration in 7 cases (2 proximal humerus; 4 femur and one metacarpal) and one case tibia vara in post osteomyelitic tibia. The infective lesions were silent for minimum of 1 year before this procedure. The periosteal sleeve was taken from proximal tibia and fibular graft was also procured from same leg. Following freshening of bone ends, the fibular graft was applied at non-union/osteotomy site and enclosed in the freshly harvested periosteal sleeve. The limb was protected in plaster cast for 6 weeks and assessed clinicoradiologically at 3 and 6 weeks intervals.
Uneventful union followed in 7 cases in 6 weeks time. In one case of proximal humerus, the osteosynthesis attempt failed. The periosteal and fibular graft site posed minimal morbidity for the child.
Conclusions
Periosteal sleeve and fibular grafting offers a promising alternative for interventions in post osteomyelitic bone with compromised soft tissue.
