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.