GROWING NEW BONE TO REPLACE ANKLE INJURY

This is a great example of a case where a male in his 50s had an ankle replacement that got infected. This is a serious problem so we had to remove the implant and all surrounding infected bone. Antibiotics were placed in to the space. Then the second part of the surgery was to do a procedure called BONE TRANSPORT.

What is BONE TRANSPORT?

Bone can be made longer and wider in some cases. this science has been known for over 70 years. If a bone if cut, it can be stretched out all while the body is making new bone in its place. We use this complex method often and we can take a bone that’s in inch long and make it a foot long. The equipment we use is called an external fixator or ilizarov frame. It looks like a scaffold on a patients leg because it attached to the bone through pins. A person wears this device until the bone regenerates and heals up, then we remove it.