Femoral Bone Grafting: Indications, Procedure and Risks

Overview

Bone grafting is a procedure where new pieces of bones or other replacement material are placed in between broken bones or holes found in bones to encourage the healing process. It is usually done by surgically implanting bone pieces taken from the body or other replacement material, usually metals, in between or around the defective bone. In femoral bone grafting, this piece of bone is taken from the hip area and implanted in a different area where a bone defect is to be corrected.

Indications

Injuries or fractures may cause pieces of bones to be removed and in order for it to heal, bone growth must be encouraged. However, in some cases, bone growth takes too long to happen. If bone growth takes very long or if it fails to occur, the fractured bone might die off, causing more pain and more serious courses of action, such as amputation of the affected limb. Bone grafting is also done to repair bone defects caused by rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and congenital disorders. Doing a bone grafting procedure, however, is usually a last resort.

Procedure Proper

Patients are usually placed under general anesthesia. Then the surgeon makes an incision on the hip and proceeds to remove a portion of bone, and then closes the incision site with stitches. He then makes another incision over the bone where the defect is to be repaired. After shaping the bone taken from the hip, he then places it into the defect. The bone is then held in place with pins, or screws, before closing the said incision. A splint or a cast may be used in order to prevent any movement during the healing process. Regular monitoring is then done on patients to ensure that the body has accepted the bone graft.

Possible Complications or Risks

Surgery often involves risks such as allergy to anesthesia, infection of the incision site, bleeding and pain. In femoral bone grafting, there is increased risk from these complications because the patients undergo two incisions and are subject to extended anesthesia time.

In rare instances, the new bone being introduced into the fractured area may get rejected by the patient’s body and treated as a foreign object. In these cases, new bone materials may be required for the procedure and this requires two more surgeries for the patient.

After Surgery

Patients who underwent bone grafting need to get plenty of rest and eat a lot of nutritious food like milk and vegetables. Any food that is known to help with bone growth should be included in the patient’s diet. Regular exercise is also encouraged, but not the too taxing ones. Plenty of rest where the patient’s legs are put up on something soft will help tremendously in promoting bone growth and healing. Children usually heal faster than adults.

References

Encyclopedia of Surgery: Bone Grafting

Pubmed.gov: Femoral Bone Grafting in Primary and Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty