Abstract
Osteochondromas occur are most commonly in the distal femur, proximal tibia and fibula and the proximal humerus. There are no large studies focusing on the clinical presentation, management and outcome of treatment for patients with an osteochondroma involving the proximal fibula. The purpose of this study is to specifically understand the manifestation of the proximal fibular osteochondroma on the preoperative peroneal nerve function, and how surgical management of the osteochondroma affects function immediately postoperatively and at long-term followup.
This is an IRB-approved retrospective review of a consecutive series of patients with a proximal fibular osteochondroma (PFO) treated operatively at a single institution from 1990 to 2013. The medical record was carefully reviewed to identify demographic data, clinical data and especially the status of the peroneal function at various time points.
There were 25 patients with 31 affected extremities who underwent surgical excision of the PFO at an average age of 12.4 years (range 3.0–17.9 years). There were 16 males and 9 females. The underlying diagnosis was isolated PFO in 2(8%) patients and multiple hereditary exostosis (MHE) in 23(92%) patients. Preoperatively, 9 (29%) had a foot drop and 22 (71%) did not. Those with preoperative foot drop underwent surgery at a younger age (9.1 vs 13.8 years) (p<0.004). Five of the nine (55.5%) had complete resolution, three (33.3%) had improvement, and one (11.1%) persisted postoperatively and required AFO. Of the 22 who were normal preoperatively, 5 (22.7%) developed a postoperative foot drop-three (60%) completely resolved, 1 (20%) improved, and 1 (20%) persisted and was found to have a transected nerve at exploration. In total, 23 of the 25 (92%) patients who had a PFO excision, had a normal or near-normal peroneal nerve function including those who had poor function preoperatively.
A proximal fibular osteochondroma can result in a high incidence of peroneal nerve dysfunction prior to any treatment, but responds the majority of the time to surgical intervention with removal of the osteochondroma. For those who have normal preoperative function, 1 in 4 will develop a postoperative foot drop but nearly all improve spontaneously unless iatrogenic injured.
