Masquelet's induced membrane technique offers a definitive contribution to the treatment of diaphyseal osteomyelitis. To overcome its drawbacks while maintaining its principles, technical modifications have been proposed: antibiotic cement, femoral intramedullary autograft harvested by RIA (Reamer Irrigation Aspiration) and interlocking nails.

This retrospective study gathered patients with chronic osteomyelitis of the femur or tibia. The first surgical stage consisted of bone resection in the healthy zone and use of a gentamicin cement spacer to fill the bone defect. The second stage consisted of the placement of a statically locked intramedullary nail associated with a bone autograft using the RIA technique.

Among this group of 12 men with diaphyseal osteomyelitis; 9 tibial and 2 femoral, and 1 knee nonunion, the mean bone defect was 7.3cm (±6.7). The mean time between the 2 stages was 2.7months (±3) with a mean antibiotic period of 3.25weeks (±3). There was a femoral diaphyseal fracture at the donor site, and a wrong trajectory intraoperatively during the RIA. Two patients with tibial nonunion presented with nail rupture without septic recurrence. A septic recurrence was healed by removal of the nail. At a minimum follow-up of 18months, with an average of 5years, consolidation was complete without infectious recurrence. Despite the statistical weakness related to the size of the cohort, the resumption of early weight bearing (OR=−7.68 95% CI [−13.33 to −2.08] (p=0.01)) and nail dynamization seemed to have an impact on the formation of complete consolidation (OR=−0.86 95% CI [−1.39 to −0.33] (p=0.007)).

This short series, compared to the literature, demonstrated that the proposed technical modifications improved the overall management of this rare and challenging condition while maintaining the reliability of the original technique. Dynamization was also seen to be of particular interest.

IV, retrospective study.