Congenital forearm pseudarthrosis: report of six cases and review of the literature.

Congenital forearm pseudarthrosis is a rare clinical entity; only 27 cases have been reported in the English literature. The radius and ulna are affected with nearly equal frequency. Involvement of both bones is extremely rare. Most cases have been associated with neurofibromatosis, which appears to affect adversely the ability to obtain union by conventional corticocancellous grafting. We present a series of six patients treated by various methods. In two of our patients we obtained promising results, as did Allieu et al., by utilizing free vascularized fibular transfer. This may provide an attractive solution to a condition which is historically refractory to conventional operative management.