ALLOGRAFT-PROSTHESIS COMPOSITE VERSUS MEGAPROSTHESIS IN PROXIMAL FEMORAL RECONSTRUCTION

A review of 33 patients who underwent proximal femoral resection for p rimary bone tumor and reconstruction with an allograft-prosthesis comp osite or a megaprosthesis is presented to consider the relative merits of the 2 procedures. Clinical function, reconstruction survival, and associated complications were analyzed. Eighteen composites in 16 pati ents and 18 megaprostheses in 17 patients were analyzed. Infection in the composite group and instability in the megaprosthesis group were t he common causes of failure and removal of reconstructions. The averag e functional evaluation in 14 surviving patients with composites was 8 7% of normal. In 10 surviving patients with megaprostheses, the averag e function was 80% when complications were avoided. Survival analysis of the patients with reconstructions showed a 10 year survival of 76% for the patients with composites and 58% for those with megaprostheses . Both composite and megaprosthetic reconstruction of the proximal fem ur seem to function equally well from the perspective of function and survival because no statistically significant difference could be show n by this review.