Brown's procedure for congenital absence of the tibia revisited

Deformity Reconstruction Surgery for Tibial Hemimelia

Tibial hemimelia is a rare congenital deficiency with a wide spectrum of pathology and deformity. This paper aims to give a comprehensive review of tibial hemimelia, with a concise summary of the history, pathology, and clinical findings of tibial hemimelia, while providing treatment recommendations and a review of the current literature. Classifications and surgical treatments are discussed, including amputation, limb reconstruction, and lengthening. Type-specific treatments are also discussed, including staged distraction correction of joint contractures of knee and ankle, Weber patelloplasty, fibular centralization, knee and ankle arthrodesis, implantable articulated distractors, and the role of femoral shortening. Amputation is a simpler and easier solution for many patients; however, reconstruction options continue to evolve, improve, and provide better functional outcomes in many cases. Factors favoring surgical reconstruction include the presence of a knee joint/proximal tibia, and the presence of a patella and quadriceps mechanism.

Type-I Tibial Hemimelia: A Limb-Salvage and Lengthening Technique

Background:

Tibial hemimelia is a rare but disabling condition. Although reconstructive methods have been described, the recommended treatment typically has been amputation at various levels followed by the use of a suitable prosthesis. A new technique known as femoro-fibulo-calcaneal arthrodesis has been developed as a limb-salvage procedure for patients with type-I deficiency who refuse amputation or have no access to good prosthetic care.

Methods:

Twelve children (18 extremities) with type-I tibial hemimelia were managed surgically. The ages of the patients at the time of surgery ranged from 2 to 14 years. The procedure includes 3 stages: loosening, lengthening, and stabilization. In all patients, the loosening stage involved release of soft-tissue contractures at both ends of the fibula. The lengthening stage involved either supervised lengthening at home with use with use of an external fixator (6 patients) or the use of traction in the hospital (6 patients). In all patients, the stabilization stage was subsequently performed by stabilizing the fibula to the femoral condyles proximally and the talus distally with use of crossed Kirschner wires.

Results:

All 12 patients returned for follow-up for the first 5 years. All patients were evaluated by author. Two patients who had ipsilateral femoral focal deficiency were subsequently lost to follow-up. The remaining 10 patients were followed for a mean of 10 years (range, 5 to 32 years). All 10 patients were able to walk on their feet during follow-up. None of the patients in the present study had an amputation or needed a prosthesis. There were no major complications.

Conclusions:

A new procedure, femoro-fibulo-calcaneal arthrodesis, has been proposed for the treatment of type-I tibial hemimelia. The suggested procedure is simple, biological, cost-effective, and dependable. It provides a long-term stable and functional extremity that enables the patient to walk with plantigrade feet with sensation and proprioception. This limb-saving procedure should be considered as an alternative for patients who refuse to lose the limb or for whom good prosthetic care is unavailable.

Level of Evidence:

Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Congenital limb deficiency in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey on its epidemiology

Background

Congenital limb deficiency is a rare and intractable disease, which impairs both function and appearance of the limbs. To establish adequate medical care, it is necessary to reveal the actual conditions and problems associated with this disease. However, there have been no extensive epidemiological surveys in Japan addressing this disease. This is the first nationwide epidemiological survey of congenital limb deficiency in this country.

Methods

With the cooperation of epidemiology experts, we performed a two-stage nationwide survey to estimate the number of patients with congenital limb deficiency and reveal basic patient features. We targeted orthopaedic surgery, paediatric, and plastic surgery departments. Hospitals were categorized according to the institution type and the number of hospital beds; hospitals were randomly selected from these categories. We selected 2283 departments from a total 7825 departments throughout Japan. In this study, we defined congenital limb deficiency as partial or total absence of the limbs, proximal to the proximal interphalangeal joint of the fingers/lesser toes or interphalangeal joint of the thumb/great toe. We distributed the first survey querying the number of initial patient visits from January 2014 to December 2015. Targets of the second survey were departments that reported one or more initial patient visits in the first survey.

Results

In the first survey, 1767 departments responded (response rate: 77.4%). Among them, 161 departments reported one or more initial patient visits. We conducted the second survey among these 161 departments, of which 96 departments responded (response rate: 59.6%). The estimated number of initial visits by patients with congenital limb deficiency was 417 (95% confidence interval: 339–495) per year in 2014 and 2015. The estimated prevalence of congenital limb deficiency in Japan was 4.15 (95% confidence interval: 3.37–4.93) per 10,000 live births. The sex ratio was 1.40. Upper limbs were more affected than lower limbs.

Conclusions

We revealed the estimated number of initial patient visits per year and birth prevalence of congenital limb deficiency in Japan. Our results will contribute to establishing the disease concept and grades of severity of congenital limb deficiency.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12891-018-2195-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Systematic radiographic evaluation of tibial hemimelia with orthopedic implications

Tibial hemimelia is a rare lower-extremity pre-axial longitudinal deficiency characterized by complete or partial absence of the tibia. The reported incidence is 1 in 1 million live births. In this pictorial essay, we define tibial hemimelia and describe associated conditions and principles of preoperative imaging assessment for a child with tibial hemimelia. We also indicate the imaging findings that might influence the choice of treatment, describe the most widely used classification systems, and briefly discuss current treatment approaches.

Tibial hemimelia: new classification and reconstructive options

Tibial hemimelia is a rare congenital lower limb deficiency presenting with a wide spectrum of associated congenital anomalies, deficiencies and duplications. Reconstructive options have been limited, and the gold standard for treatment has remained amputation with prosthetic fitting. There is now a better understanding of the genetics, etiology and pathoanatomy of tibial hemimelia. Armed with this knowledge, I present here a new classification to guide treatment and prognosis and then discuss new treatment strategies and techniques for limb reconstruction based on this new classification scheme.

[Congenital tibial hemimelia]

BACKGROUND

The congenital tibia hemimelia, also called tibial deficiency, is a rare disorder with unknown cause, showing many associated abnormalities or varying syndromes.

METHODS

The correct diagnosis can be easily established using radiographs and/or magnetic resonance imaging in the postpartum setting. However, treatment may be difficult and needs to take into consideration the given anatomic situation in the knee and ankle joint.

CONCLUSION

Prosthetic fitting may be possible in mild cases. Nevertheless, the majority of patients need to undergo surgical reconstruction in order to restore a functional, mobile, and stable knee and ankle joint.

Congenital longitudinal deficiency of the tibia

We performed a clinical and radiographic review of 15 patients (19 limbs) with longitudinal deficiency of the tibia treated between 1981 and 2001. Ten limbs with Kalamchi type I deficiencies were managed by through-knee amputation. Five type II deficiencies were treated by foot ablation and tibiofibular synostosis, either at the same time or staged, but prosthetic problems may arise from varus alignment and prominence of the proximal fibula. Patients with type III deficiencies (four cases) were treated by foot ablation. Prosthetic problems relating to proximal or distal tibiofibular instability may necessitate additional surgical intervention.