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Updated: Jun 18, 2026
Modeling Primary Bone Tumors and Bone Metastasis with Solid Tumor Graft Implantation into Bone
Published on: September 9, 2020
Medium to long-term results after reconstruction of bone defects at the knee with tumor endoprostheses
S Kinkel1, B Lehner, J A Kleinhans
1Department of Orthopaedics, University of Heidelberg, 69118 Heidelberg, Germany.
Background And Objectives:
Limb salvage and reconstruction with tumor endoprostheses is considered as therapeutic standard in the treatment of bone defects at the knee. Few studies report long-term results so far.
Methods:
Seventy-seven patients who had a cementless or cemented MUTARS endoprosthesis implanted were followed-up for a mean period of 46 months (3-128 months). The defects were due to primary tumor lesions in 69 cases or metastases in 8 cases. The distal femur (n = 49) or the proximal tibia (n = 28) was reconstructed predominantly with cementless implants (femur: 69%, tibia: 92%). The resection of the tumor was intraarticular in 46 and extraarticular in 31 patients.
Results:
After 10 years probability of limb salvage was 92% with a recurrence rate of 3%. Complications were frequent with a revision rate of 58% and lead to a cumulative probability of survival of the initially implanted prosthesis of 57% after 5 years. Locking mechanism failure (n = 15) and aseptic loosening (n = 13) were the most frequent failure modes.
Conclusions:
Regardless of achieving a low recurrence rate and satisfactory functional results, we found a high complication rate after implantation of a megaprosthesis. This was particularly evident for extraarticular resections and cemented fixation, which should be avoided when possible.