Treatment of exposed tibial bone by old school burr holes - a case report

We report a successful wound treatment of a chronic ulcer with bone exposure using a somehow forgotten technique of creating burr holes into the bone. Most clinics would promote flap surgery to cover wounds with bone exposure, however, in some cases invasive surgery is not mandatory. We bring up an alternative treatment for such cases.

We report a case of chronic ulcers on both lower extremities in a 43-year-old Caucasian male. He suffers from a leukocytoclastic vasculitis and sarcoidosis which is medicated by immunosuppressive medication. The patient's wounds were initially treated with mechanical debridement and split-thickness skin grafts, however, his wounds tended to worsen the more they were manipulated and finally resulted in tibial bone exposure. After levelling up his immune suppressive drugs, the wounds finally stabilized but didn't heal after several weeks of follow-up. The wound was ultimately treated by placing burr holes in the underlying cortical bone.

Chronic ulcers with bone exposure at the lower leg are challenging to treat. They often require local or free flap surgery. In some cases, because of underlying systemic disease, it is mandatory to stay away from invasive flap surgery. With this case, we like to put under attention an old technique of decorticating the exposed bone to promote secondary wound healing. It has been described mainly for scalp injuries, however, we have proven the viability of this technique for pretibial wounds as well.