Spontaneous regeneration of the large femoral defect in patient with diffuse osteomyelitis after intramedullary nailing.

Infection of the long bones after intramedullary nailing is a troublesome condition and management of the infection remains challenging to orthopedic surgeons. Associated infection can be more problematic and more diffuse in intramedullary bone fixation, since it may spread along the nail. Surgical treatment choices are also difficult especially in cases with large bone defects after debridement. In this article, we present a 75-year-old woman that had been treated only with in-situ external fixation, antibiotic therapy and observation. Despite diffuse femoral osteomyelitis, a 10 cm femoral defect healed with unexpected bone regeneration which couldn't be explained reasonably.