Allograft reconstruction for the treatment of long bone defects: report of 9 cases

From April 1980 to December 1987, we experienced 18 cases of frozen intercalary allografts including 13 cases of bone tumor, 3 cases of congenital pseudoarthrosis of the tibia and 2 cases of traumatic bone defect. Nine cases were followed up for more than 2 years. The average allograft of length was 10.5cm (ranging from 3.5cm to 22cm). All cases had supplemental autografts in combination with intercalary allografts. The average time of radiographic union was 5 months (ranging from 4 months to 8 months) between allograft and autogenous cancellous bone graft, and 11.3 months (ranging from 7 months to 18 months) between allograft and host bone. We use the bone scan for early determination of the fate of allografts. The bone scan usually becomes positive at about 6 months after transplantation. The functional result was 89% "excellent" and "good" according to Henry J. Mankin's grading. One non-union and 3 leg length discrepancies of more than 2cm were encountered. In this study, we found that the deep frozen allograft for the treatment of large bone defects is very encouraging.