The secondary fracture rate in 53 patients undergoing vascularized bone transfer for long-bone reconstruction, with a follow-up period of at least 2 years, is evaluated in this report. Twelve fractures occurred in 10 patients. Characteristics of the fractures were: (1) most occurred at the tibia recipient site; (2) most occurred through the transferred vascularized bone segment, rather than at its junctions; and (3) all fractures occurred within 1 year following bone union. When the fracture occurred in adults, union was relatively easily obtained by application of simple external fixation; on the other hand, union was difficult to obtain in patients with congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia.
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Minami et al. (1993) studied this question.