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.