Fiberfill©-A New Bone Substitute for Treatment of Chronic Osteomyelitis?

Background/

Objectives

Therapy of osteomyelitis first aims to control infection of the bone and surrounding tissue. Once that is achieved, surgeons are regularly faced with defects of the bone as a result of the infection. Reconstruction of the bone is necessary. In the past years, various bone substitutes were developed. Since 2022, we have used Fiberfill© as a new allogenic material. The aim of this study is to analyze the outcome of patients with chronic osteomyelitis who received bone reconstruction with Fiberfill©.

Methods

Patients who suffered from chronic osteomyelitis and received Fiberfill© for bone reconstruction between October 2022 and July 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Endpoints were infection control, bone healing and function in terms of weight bearing. Data was analyzed descriptively.

Results

38 patients with a mean age of 55.6 years ± 16.4 years standard deviation were analyzed and seen for clinical and radiographic control after surgery with a mean follow up of 60 weeks up to three years. Mean defect size was 2.4 cm. Thirty-four patients (89%) did not have any re-infection. Complications associated with Fiberfill© were not found in any patients. Healing of the bone (completely and partially) was found in 35 patients (92%). Twenty-nine patients (78%) walked fully weight bearing. Seven patients were active with partial weight bearing at time of last follow-up (19%).

Conclusions

Fiberfill© can be regarded as a bone substitute for reconstruction of bone defects in therapy of osteomyelitis. We did not find clear disadvantages or a high number of complications after filling up bone defects with Fiberfill©.