Introduction: In case of massive bone defect, femoral stem revision may cause significant problems to the orthopaedic surgeons. The periprosthetic infection introduces a further element of complication which often leads to complex surgical strategies. The aim of this study was to assess the preliminary results of femoral revision with modular resection femoral stems in a selected group of patients with infected total hip arthroplasty and extensive bone defect.

Materials and Methods: The study group included five patients (three women – two men) with an average age of 72 years (range 62–81 years). From 2006 to 2008 the patients underwent a prosthetic femoral revision with resection modular stems to treat a septic loosened primary hip prosthesis (one case) or revision hip prosthesis (four cases). The bacteria responsible for the infection were MRSE in three cases, MSSE and Str. Agalactie in one case, Proteus Mirabilis in one case. Three patients were treated in election for septic loosening of hip implant and two were admitted in our Department as emergency for a periproshtetic femoral fracture (Duncan type B3). In all the patients the femoral bone defect was grade III-B according to Paprosky classification of femoral bone deficiency. One patient with periproshtetic femoral fracture underwent a one-stage prosthetic revision and four patients sustained a two-stage prosthetic revision. In one patient a local flap was performed and Vaacum Assisted Therapy was applied in order to treat an associated loss of substance. The patients underwent periodical clinical controls in which the result has been evaluated by means of Merle-d’Aubigné hip score.

Results: The follow-up period ranged from 10 to 28 months. We observed one case of recurrence of infection in the patient treated with a one-stage revision. At present, we did not observe signs of infection in the remaining four patients who underwent a two-stage revision. As for functional result, four patients walked with supports and one without them. No patient referred moderate or severe residual pain.

Discussion: The preservation of bone stock is one of the most important goals in prosthetic revision procedures. In some circumstances the amount of femoral bone loss can be so wide to prevent the application of conventional or modular uncemented femoral stems. In these selected cases cemented modular resection femoral stems may represent the only available option for femoral reconstruction. In our clinical experience this solution offered altogether successful outcomes. In our opinion two-stage revision is the preferable surgical choice.

For decades the treatment of chronic posttraumatic osteomyelitis associated with bone exposure has been one of the most serious problems in the field of orthopedic surgery. “Sterilization” of the osteomyelitic site, that is radical debridement of all infected tissue, is the basic requirement of the treatment; in the past, the remaining defect of the debrided area was closed with skin grafts, which were removed in a further stage, when the infection was ceased; then the defect was filled with muscle flap and bone graft of various types. Both soft tissue and osseous reconstruction took a relatively long period of time requiring several-stage treatment.

We performed a retrospective study on 9 patients treated for chronic osteomyelitis of the upper limb (6 forearm – 3 arm) by means of free fibula vascularized bone graft, between 1992 and 2003 (7 male 2 female). All patients had been more than 2 previous surgical attempt with conventional treatment (sterilization and bone graft). In most of them (7 cases) a two-stage treatment was performed (resection and sterilization, eventually with muscle transfer, in the first stage and bone transfer in the second one); in other 3 cases a one-stage treatment was performed. Two cases required a composite tissue transfer with a skin pad to cover the exposure. The length of bone defect after extensive resection of necrotic bone from septic pseudoarthrosis ranged from 5 cm to 12 cm.

In all cases there was no evidence of infection recurrence in the follow-up period. The mean period to obtain radiographic bone union was 4.1 months (range 2.5–6 months). In 2 cases secondary procedures have been carried out due to an aseptic non union in one site of synthesis (cruentation and compression plate). Functional results were always satisfactory although in the forearm a complete range of motion has never been achieved (plurioperated patients with DRUJ problems).

Fibular grafts allow the use of a segment of diaphyseal bone which is structurally similar to the radius, ulna and humerus of sufficient length to reconstruct most skeletal defects. The vascularized fibular graft is indicated in patients where conventional bone grafting has failed or large bone defects, exceeding 5 cm, are observed. The application of microsurgical fibular transfers for reconstruction of the extremities allows repair of bone and soft-tissue defects when shortening is not possible with good functional results.