Surgery May Help Kids with Leg, Hip Tumors NEW YORK Jan 10, 2003 (Reuters Health) - A group of Italian orthopedic surgeons may have hit upon a new bone reconstruction technique that can help young children with bone cancer in the lower limbs. Treating tumors in children's leg and hip bones has been difficult because conventional methods of lower limb bone repair do not allow for growing bones, according to a statement from the January 11th issue of the journal The Lancet, where the study is published. Children may need multiple surgeries, or doctors may decide to amputate the affected limb.In the new study, Dr. Marco Manfrini and colleagues at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli in Bologna report on their treatment of a 4-year-old girl with a tumor in her hip and femur, or thigh bone. After the girl underwent anti-cancer treatments including chemotherapy, Manfrini and colleagues started reconstructive surgery.Using titanium screws and plates as well as bone grafts from the girl's leg bones, the team of surgeons reconstructed her hip. They also removed a portion of the girl's fibula, the smaller of the two bones joining the knee and the ankle, and used it along with another bone graft to replace part of her femur. After four months the girl started strengthening exercises and after eight months she was able to bear some weight on the leg while using protective devices. Four years and five months after the surgery, "the patient attends school, rides an exercise bicycle, swims, and walks without canes at home," the authors write. The grafted bone has grown sufficiently so that her legs are the same length, and areas where bone grafts were taken have healed."This case suggests a new method of hip reconstruction in a small child," write Manfrini and colleagues."If long-term follow-up substantiates this promising early result, such reconstruction might become a viable option to amputation in this age group," the authors conclude. SOURCE: The Lancet 2003;361;141-143. www.cancerpage.com Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.