Benign lytic lesions of the femoral neck: mid-term results of extended curettage and sartorius muscle pedicle bone grafting

Surgical treatment of benign osteolytic lesions in the femoral head and neck: a systematic review

Background and objectives

Treatment of benign osteolytic lesions in the femoral head and neck can be extremely challenging, particularly in children with open physis or for aggressive tumors with pathological fracture. There remains the difficult management decision as to whether to perform complete excision of the involved area or only curettage. Moreover, there is no agreed consensus on the optimal approach to lesion access when performing curettage, which included the transcervical, open and direct approach. The current systematic review aims to provide guidance for selection of surgical methods in clinical practice by comparing the advantages and drawbacks of different procedures.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases were executed for human studies restricted to the English language. The search was filtered to include studies published from January 1980 to January 2020.

Results

A total of 33 articles including 274 patients were enrolled in the final analysis. The most common diagnosis was chondroblastoma (CBT) (104, 38.0%), followed by giant cell tumor (GCT) (56, 20.4%). There were 57 (20.8%) patients with pathological fracture. Intralesional curettage was performed in 257 (93.8%) patients with the local recurrence of 12.5% at the mean follow-up of 51.5 months. The patients who were presented with open physis or curetted via transcervical approach developed higher local recurrence in patients with CBT (P < 0.001). The local recurrence rate of GCT is 33.3% after curettage, while 8 of 9 (88.9%) patients with fracture were treated successfully with joint preservation. Two of 45 (4.4%) patients developed avascular necrosis (AVN) of femoral head after surgical hip dislocation. The reported Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) Score was comparable among patients with different approaches to curettage.

Conclusion

The majority of benign osteolytic lesions in the femoral head and neck can be treated with intralesional curettage with acceptable local tumor control and satisfactory function. The incidence of local recurrence might be decreased dramatically for lesion access under direct visualization. The native joint maintenance could be achieved even in patients with aggressive lesions presenting pathological fracture.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12891-021-04442-y.

Treatment of tumor-like lesions in the femoral neck using free nonvascularized fibular autografts in pediatric patients before epiphyseal closure

Objectives

Surgical resection of benign bone tumors and tumor-like lesions at the femoral neck presents a difficult reconstructive challenge. However, the safety and efficacy of free nonvascularized fibular autografts (FNFAs) in the treatment of femoral neck tumor-like lesions before epiphyseal closure in young patients remain unknown.

Methods

Sixteen pediatric patients who had not yet undergone epiphyseal closure were treated with FNFAs after resection of tumor-like lesions in the femoral neck from August 2012 to September 2016. All patients underwent supplementary skeletal traction through the supracondylar femur for 4 to 6 weeks after resection. Demographic data were recorded and clinical and radiological outcomes were evaluated during the follow-up.

Results

All patients could walk with partial weight bearing 4 weeks postoperative, and full weight bearing was permitted after a mean of 8 weeks. Graft union was attained in all 16 patients at a mean of 2 months. The donor site of the fibular cortical strut showed good regeneration in all patients. The Harris hip score significantly improved from 65% to 95%.

Conclusions

Application of an FNFA is a feasible method in the treatment of tumor-like lesions in the femoral neck before epiphyseal closure in pediatric patients.

Level of Evidence

Level IV.

Sartorius muscle-pedicle bone graft for osteonecrosis of the femoral head

PURPOSE

This study summarises the clinical efficacy of sartorius muscle-pedicle bone graft in osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

METHODS

A total of 58 patients, including 53 men (61 hips) and five women (6 hips) with osteonecrosis of the femoral head, underwent sartorius muscle-pedicle bone grafting. Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) staging was performed.

RESULTS

The ARCO staging revealed 23 hips of stage I, 36 hips of stage II and eight hips of stage III. The average surgical duration was 65 minutes (range 45-90 minutes). A total of 55 (64 hips) of the 58 patients undergoing surgery were followed up, with a mean follow-up duration of 34.48 months (range, 24-48 months) and a median of 34 months. The outcome was excellent in 27, good in 24, normal in two, and poor in 11 hips, with a total good rating of 79.68 %. The Harris score of the hip joints in the last follow-up was significantly improved compared with pre-surgical scores (P < 0.01). Imaging results showed that 21 hips were improved, 31 hips were stabilized and 12 hips were aggravated (of which 9 hips underwent total hip replacement). The survival rate of femoral head was 81.25 %.

CONCLUSION

Sartorius muscle-pedicle bone graft significantly promotes repair of osteonecrosis of the femoral head, improves the Harris score of the hip joints, with good clinical efficacy. It effectively improves the survival rate of femoral head, delaying or preventing artificial hip replacement.

The dilemma of denosumab: Salvage of a femoral head giant cell tumour

INTRODUCTION

Denosumab is a monoclonal RANKL antibody which has been shown to be highly effective in treating giant cell tumour (GCT) of bone. We report on its use as a neo-adjuvant agent to avoid morbid surgery for an adolescent.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

We report a case of a15-year old female with a Campanacci 3 GCT involving the femoral head and neck.

DISCUSSION

To preserve bone stock and avoid an outright hip replacement, the patient was given denosumab pre-operatively to consolidate the tumour. After receiving 6 months of treatment, a rim of cortical bone had developed to allow an extended curettage of the tumour to be performed without fear of collapse of the articular surface.

CONCLUSION

This is the first reported case of the use of denosumab in GCT of the femoral head and neck. We describe our experience in the neo-adjuvant use of denosumab and offer suggestions for future use. Further studies will be needed to see if denosumab has a role in conventional GCT and whether it can lead to a lowering of local recurrence rates.