Congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia. A long-term follow-up study.

A review of 36 cases of congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia revealed that at long-term follow-up, patients tended to fall into three groups: (1) those who show the typical radiographic and physical findings of congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia, fracture before eight years of age and progress of pseudarthrosis; these cases tended to proceed to a poor end-result, regardless of the form of treatment; (2) those who did not show the typical prefracture stage but fractured after the eight years of age responded well to grafting procedures and had minimal shortening and satisfactory results at long-term follow-up; and (3) those patients who presented with a prefracture stage tibia but were braced and never fractured, and had a satisfactory end-result.