Abstract
There are many therapeutic difficulties when treating post-traumatic pyogenic osteomyelitis of the tibia. Many surgical techniques, such as free vascularized flaps and pedicled flaps, have been developed and reported. Here, we describe the case of a 58-year-old male with tibia fracture by traffic accident seven years ago. He had severe diabetes mellitus and had undergone operation using external fixation for the tibia fracture. One year after trauma, the tibia fracture was healed with sufficient union on X-ray. However, he developed pyogenic osteomyelitis of the tibia seven years after the first operation. We performed curettage, debridement of the tibia bone marrow, and applied cement beads containing antibiotics two times. Furthermore, the proximally pedicled medial gastrocnemius muscle was transferred to fill the dead space of the bone marrow. The pedicled flap technique is safe and easy, and is a useful method for treatment of post-traumatic pyogenic osteomyelitis of the tibia without non-union.
