Development and Evaluation of a Percutaneous Technique for Repairing Proximal Femora With Metastatic Lesions
Abstract
Metastatic lesions in the proximal femur are a common and serious manifestation of breast cancer. These lesions can be painful and can lead to pathological fracture. Prophylactic surgical fixation is advised in patients thought to be at high risk of fracture and typically involves placement of a prosthetic implant or compression hip screw. This study is investigating whether proximal femora with metastatic lesions can be repaired by simply filling the defect with bone cement (polymethylmethacrylate), an innovative procedure that could be performed percutaneously and could eliminate the need for implanting hardware in many cases. If defects could be repaired using this technique, patients would benefit from shorter and less invasive surgical procedures, less pain and discomfort, greatly reduced recovery time, and shorter hospital stays - all at much lower cost. Using finite element (FE) analysis, clinical guidelines for assessing the need for prophylactic fixation and for using the proposed percutaneous procedure will also be developed. To date, materials for testing the proposed repair technique on 12 pairs of cadaveric proximal femora have been identified and obtained. Simulated tumors in 12 femora have been created and repaired. Mechanical testing and FE modeling of these femora to evaluate the technique will begin shortly.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA416678
Entities
People
- Joyce H. Keyak
Organizations
- University of California, Irvine