Modified Masquelet technique in children

Abstract

Masquelet technique is one of the modalities for the treatment of long bone defect. Using cancellous bone graft to fill the bone defect is always a concern in children due to the small size of their iliac crest and open growth plate. We reported a case of 13-year-old male who presented with gap non-union of middle third of tibia. We applied a modified Masquelet technique by using only the cortical fibular graft instead of cancellous bone to fill the space surrounded by induced membrane. Fibula was used as a nonvascularized strut graft and matched stick graft to achieve complete union. We concluded that nonvascularized fibula grafting is an easy and effective option to fill the bone defect in children in the second stage of Masquelet technique.

Keywords: Children; Free fibula graft; Gap non-union; Induced membrane; Masquelet technique.