Arthrodesis of the knee with a vascularized fibular rotatory graft

We retrospectively reviewed the records of thirteen patients who had been managed with an arthrodesis of the knee with use of a vascularized graft from the ipsilateral fibula and fixation with an intramedullary rod. The indications for the operation included a large skeletal defect secondary to the resection of a tumor about the knee in eight patients, an infection at the site of an arthroplasty in four (with failure of a previous conventional arthrodesis in three of the four), and severe rheumatoid gonarthrosis as well as a persistent non-union of the distal part of the femur in one. The average age of the patients at the time of the operation was forty-three years (range, twenty-six to seventy-six years). Most of the patients had had multiple previous procedures (thirty-three operations had been performed in ten patients). Twelve of the thirteen patients had a solid fusion and a successful result after an average duration of follow-up of fifty-one months (range, eight to ninety-three months). The remaining patient, who had had four previous arthroplasties, had a recurrence of an infection seven months after the operation and was managed with an amputation. Six complications--including two superficial wound infections, one deep wound infection, one deep venous thrombosis, one transient peroneal-nerve palsy, and one delayed union--occurred in three patients.