Hand ballistics traumas often produce complex limb injuries and large segmental bone defects. The induced membrane (IM) technique is a simple and effective procedure for reconstruction of segmental bone defects. Usually polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) cement is required for the first stage of the surgery. We describe four metacarpal bone reconstructions with the IM technique but without PMMA cement after ballistic trauma in a low-resources setting.

Two patients were treated in a forward surgical unit for gunshot wounds of the hand. A 33 years old man presented a 4th and 5th metarcarpal bone fracture with critical bone defect and a 25 years old man presented a 2nd and 3rd metacarpal bone and soft tissue defect.

In addition to the surgical initial management, we performed the IM technique with a syringe's body in polypropylene (PP) instead of PMMA cement that was not available in this situation. A thick membrane was observable six weeks after the spacer implantation. We performed the bone graft in one case with an iliac crest and in the other with a tibial cortical and cancelous graft.

Bone union was achieved in the two cases for the four metacarpal bones.

We report cases treated in an austere environment where PMMA cement was not available. This PP induced membrane technique as first been described in a public communication at the SICOT congress by Mozumder et al. It involved critical bone defects from the lower limb. The IM technique has proven its efficiency in hand and wrist bone defect reconstruction but its success is based on strict compliance with technical execution. Our plastic spacers met the requirements of surgical technique. After six weeks, an IM membrane macroscopically similar to cement's IM was found in all cases. The PP spacer shows interesting characteristics: it does not contain antibiotics, it does not heat the surrounding tissues and it is not expensive and easily available.

The use of a PP spacer allowed us to achieve bone union in four critical metacarpal bone defects related to ballistic trauma. This procedure respects the technical execution of the IM technique. It is achievable in very low-resources settings. Further biomolecular studies are necessary to assess the PP IM biological properties.