Bone reconstruction for children with leg tumours

Treating tumours in children's leg and hip bones has been difficult because conventional methods of lower limb bone repair do not allow for growing bones. Children may need multiple surgeries, or doctors may decide to amputate the affected limb. A group of Italian orthopaedic surgeons may have hit upon a new bone reconstruction technique that can help young children with bone cancer in the lower limbs. In the new study, researchers at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli in Bologna report on their treatment of a four year old girl with a tumour in her hip and femur, or thigh bone. After the girl underwent anti-cancer treatments including chemotherapy, they started reconstructive surgery. Using titanium screws and plates as well as bone grafts from the girl's leg bones, the team of surgeons reconstructed her hip. They also removed a portion of the girl's fibula, the smaller of the two bones joining the knee and the ankle, and used it along with another bone graft to replace part of her femur. After four months the girl started strengthening exercises and after eight months she was able to bear some weight on the leg while using protective devices. Four years and five months after the surgery, the patient attends school, rides an exercise bicycle, swims, and walks without canes at home. The grafted bone has grown sufficiently so that her legs are the same length, and areas where bone grafts were taken have healed. This case suggests a new method of hip reconstruction in a small child.