Allograft reconstruction

It is bone obtained from a donor and stored in a bone bank, which follows strict processes of screening, testing and traceability for its safety. It provides a structure of real bone that the patient's body gradually colonizes and integrates over time.

That is its great difference from a metal implant: it does not replace the bone with an artificial part, but offers a biological scaffold on which the patient's own bone can rebuild.

The allograft needs to integrate with the patient's bone, a process that takes time. Its choice depends on the location, age and features of each case.

Unlike a megaprosthesis, it is a biological reconstruction: if it unites, it can be very durable and allows tendons and ligaments to be reattached, so it is considered mainly in young patients; in exchange, recovery is slower and there is a risk that it fails to unite or that the graft fractures.

The other biological reconstruction is the patient's own vascularized fibula, which arrives with its own blood supply and therefore unites and remodels as living bone. It is used mainly in intercalary defects and in the humerus and forearm, and can be combined with an allograft in a single construct.

Union between the graft and the patient's own bone is gradual, so weight-bearing is usually protected for a prolonged period and rehabilitation advances according to how the integration progresses on the follow-up imaging.

The decision to operate is made together: we discuss the diagnosis, the goals of treatment, the expected benefits, the risks and the alternatives. Surgery does not guarantee an outcome; it aims to control the tumor while preserving as much function as possible.