Treatment of non-unions of fractures of the tibial diaphysis by posterolateral cortical cancellous bone-grafting.

A series of forty-four consecutive tibial diaphyseal fractures with non-unions were treated over a thirteen-year period (1965 to 1978). The majority of these injuries were complicated by severe soft-tissue damage, segmental bone loss, or infection, and multiple previous operative attempts had been made to obtain union. Cortical cancellous bone grafts were inserted posterolaterally and union was obtained in all but one fracture. Two bone-grafting procedures each were needed in three patients. Good to excellent functional results were obtained in forty-three of the forty-four involved extremities.