Atrophic, aseptic, tibial nonunion: how effective is modified Judet's osteoperiosteal decortication technique and buttress plating?

INTRODUCTION

Tibial nonunion is the most common nonunion encountered by the orthopedic surgeon. Repeated surgeries, cost, increased duration of hospital stay, disability, pain all contribute to the increased morbidity. Many methods have been used to treat nonunion of tibia with variable results and none of them are 100 % successful. Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of modification of Judet's decortication technique and buttress plating, without bone graft, in the treatment of aseptic, atrophic tibial nonunion. Also, to find the correlation between time of achieving union and time since injury to decortication.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ours is a retrospective study conducted at a Level I trauma center. A total of 35 cases of atrophic tibial nonunion, irrespective of the cause, was treated by modifying Judet's osteoperiosteal decortication and plating during the time period January 2006 to July 2013. Demographic data, range of motion, time of achieving union and clinico-radiological evaluation for union of fracture were included as main outcome measurements.

RESULTS

Union was achieved in all cases with a mean duration of 8.34 months. Pain and stiffness of joints were not reported in any case on long-term follow-up and the patients had satisfactory range of motion. Implant removal was done in three cases after fracture union.

CONCLUSION

Treatment of atrophic tibial nonunion is challenging and management of each nonunion has to be customized based on the biological and mechanical characteristics of the nonunion. Plating with osteoperiosteal decortication is an effective and simple technique, which in our hands has shown to result in 100 % union rates without the need of additional bone healing augmentation procedures like bone grafting.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level II.

Clear cell chondrosarcoma calcaneum - a case report and review of literature

Chondrosarcoma is the second most common primary bone malignancy accounting for 20-25% of all bone sarcomas. However chondrosarcoma of the foot is rare with just a handful of cases being described. Among the subtypes clear cell variant is the rarest and has never been documented in the foot. We present a rare case of clear cell chondrosarcoma of the calcaneum with multiple metastases that was treated at our institute. The patient was a 62-year old male who presented to us with pain and mass in the left hindfoot with difficulty in walking for 2 years and a discharging ulcer over the lateral aspect for 4 months. Radiography showed aggressive, destructive, lytic lesion in the calcaneum with cortical breach and soft tissue invasion. Bone scan and PET-CT revealed multiple bony metastases and lung metastasis. After initial biopsy, patient underwent below knee amputation and has been in remission since the last 18 months. Given the rarity of this tumor in the calcaneum, this report highlights the importance to consider the possibility of this tumor in the calcaneum as an early diagnosis; complete metastatic workup and expeditious management can thus significantly improve prognosis.