The first surgery in the world of double autologous periosteal cortical transplant was a success, with the complete consolidation of both radius and ulna fractures and perfect functional recovery of the forearm. Performed using microsurgical technique at the Sant’Andrea University Hospital in Rome, the operating procedure broadens the horizon of orthopedic surgery, introducing an unconventional approach which, with the removal of autologous bone tissue from two different sites and contextual grafting, it allows the healing of even very large fractures characterized by substantial bone loss.
The patient, a 50-year-old laborer, had suffered a trauma in 2019 and, despite several surgeries, still had a non-union of both bones of the forearm, with pain and severe functional limitation of the elbow, wrist and hand. In May 2021, the orthopedic team of prof. Andrea Ferretti, director of the Orthopedics Unit of the Capitoline hospital and full professor of Orthopedics at Sapienza University of Rome, proposes the innovative micro-surgical approach.
Donations and transplants: 10% more in 2021. Italy returns to pre-Covid levels
by Valeria Pini
Guided in the operating room by Professor Matteo Guzziniorthopedist and microsurgeon, associated at Sapienza, the team grafted two flaps of bone and periosteum taken from both knees of the patient, together with an arterial vascular peduncle, into the old fracture foci.
The original approach, with double sampling and transplantation, allowed the simultaneous progressive healing of both bones, without causing any functional disturbance in the two knees. After 9 months, the complete functionality of the limb and patient satisfaction certify the validity of the technique which today opens the door to new interesting perspectives for the treatment of the outcomes of fractures with non-consolidation.