Study progress in treatment of extremity bone defects

Treatment of extremity bone defects, especially large segmental ones, is a difficult problem encountered by orthopedic surgeons in the clinic. Despite a variety of treatment techniques available, lack of uniform protocols causes patients to suffer enormous physical and psychological pain during their medical treatment. Now that new materials and new techniques are constantly evolving and patients’ requirements for functional and morphological recovery of the injured limb become more demanding, it has become a great challenge for orthopedic surgeons to provide an optimal individualized treatment protocol for each patient. This review intends to help surgeons with brief update information on the research progress in the treatment of extremity bone defects. Key words: Extremities; Bone defects; Bone transplantation; Masquelet technique; Distraction osteogenesis