Introduction Patients with open fracture Gustillo-Anderson grade 3 had undergone several surgical procedures, but still ended up with expose long dead bone or infected. Illizarov method was used to address long bone and soft tissue defect after re-debridement with radical resection of long dead bone or infected segment. Methods We included 14 patients (mean age: 30.86 ± 11.49) with non-union tibial fracture with long dead and infected bone segment who had undergone several debridement, bone grafting or spacer and soft tissue closure procedure due to open fracture of tibia grade 3. The subjects underwent re-debridement with radical resection of dead or infected bone segment followed by Illizarov method to perform bone transport procedure for bone defect filling and simultaneously restore severe soft tissue loss and bone lengthening procedure. Results All subjects had achieved satisfactory results with mean docking period of bone transport 3.78 ± 0.54 months, union time at the docking side 7 (5.5–9) months. Soft tissue was covered and no recurrence of infection. Three subjects had Leg Length Discrepancy (LLD) of 1 cm, whereas the remaining had zero discrepancy. No significant pain was observed at final follow-up and 4 patients had ankle joint stiffness. Conclusion The Illizarov method can effectively address long bone and soft tissue defects by distraction osteogenesis through bone transport procedure that filling the defect gradually without bone graft and simultaneously enhancing soft tissue closure without tertiary soft tissue procedure subsequently followed with bone lengthening procedure to correct the limb length discrepancy.

Background. Vertebral bone defect represents one of the most commonly found skeletal problems in the spine. Progressive increase of vertebral involvement of skeletal tuberculosis (TB) is reported as the main cause, especially in developed countries. Conventional spinal fusion using bone graft has been associated with donor-site morbidity and complications. We reported the utilization of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) combined with hydroxyapatite (HA) based scaffolds in treating vertebral bone defect due to spondylitis tuberculosis. Materials and Methods. Three patients with tuberculous spondylitis in the thoracic, thoracolumbar, or lumbar region with vertebral body collapse of more than 50 percent were included. The patient underwent a 2-stage surgical procedure, consisting of debridement, decompression, and posterior stabilization in the first stage followed by anterior fusion using the lumbotomy approach at the second stage. Twenty million UC-MSCs combined with HA granules in 2 cc of saline were transplanted to fill the vertebral bone defect. Postoperative alkaline phosphatase level, quality of life, and radiological healing were evaluated at one-month, three-month, and six-month follow-up. Results. The initial mean ALP level at one-month follow-up was 48.33 ± 8.50   U / L . This value increased at the three-month follow-up but decreased at the six-month follow-up time, 97 ± 8.19   U / L and 90.33 ± 4.16   U / L , respectively. Bone formation of 50-75% of the defect site with minimal fracture line was found. Increased bone formation comprising 75-100% of the total bone area was reported six months postoperation. A total score of the SF-36 questionnaire showed better progression in all 8 domains during the follow-up with the mean total score at six months of 2912.5 ± 116.67 from all patients. Conclusion. Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells combined with hydroxyapatite-based scaffold utilization represent a prospective alternative therapy for bone formation and regeneration of vertebral bone defect due to spondylitis tuberculosis. Further clinical investigations are needed to evaluate this new alternative.

HighlightsCase report of patient with vertebral body defects which treated by combination of mesenhymal stem cell and hydroxyapatite.Mesenchymal stem cell combined wiht hydroyapatite have potential therapy for vertembral body defect.Further larger studies with longer duration of follow up are requierd to investigate the safety and efficacy.