LIMBS BOWING AND PSEUDARTHROSIS IN 13 NF1 PATIENTS

The Authors report the results of a retrospective study on 13/234 NF1 patients with long bones bowing (B) or pseudoarthrosis (PA). In summar y, the report shows that: males are more frequently affected than fema les; lower limbs, most of all the tibia, are more involved than the up per ones. The diagnosis of bone lesion was late, even when a limb defo rmity was present; surgical treatment (with different orthopaedic tech niques) concerned 7 patients with rather bad results (poor and non def initive in 4 of them, fair in the other 3, of which only 1 is definiti ve). The Authors suggest guide lines for early diagnosis and managemen t of the B and PA of the tibia, which remain an important and unresolv ed problem in NF1 patients.