If a bone fracture does not heal properly and the fracture gap does not close, this is referred to as pseudarthrosis. The blood supply to the bone plays a very important role in healing. The impact of force on the body causes damage to the surrounding tissue, the periosteum and its blood vessels. This can lead to a disruption in fracture healing, particularly in the shaft area of the large tubular bones. The fracture gap fills with connective tissue and no bone healing occurs. Inadequate stability due to insufficient immobilisation or implants can also lead to pseudarthrosis. Treatment not only involves the bone but also requires minimally invasive and gentle treatment of the surrounding tissue. All diagnostic and therapeutic treatment methods for pseudarthrosis are used in our department.

• CT, if necessary MRI and PET-CT for diagnosis
• Conservative treatment using shock wave therapy
• Reosteosynthesis with nails, plates or an external rod
• Bone grafting from the iliac crest or minimally invasive from the medullary cavity (reamer-irrigator-aspirator)
• Treatment using bone substitutes
  

Accident-related or post-operative infection of bone and soft tissue requires treatment appropriate to the situation. It is not only an infection of the bone, but also always an infection of the surrounding soft tissue.
This situation must be taken into account and an individualised treatment approach must be developed for each patient. This means removing as much of the inflamed tissue as possible in one piece and then reconstructing it.
The treatment of such problematic cases has a long tradition in the Department of Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery at Ulm University Hospital; we have a separate treatment unit with staff specially trained in the treatment of complication wounds.
A total of 20 treatment beds are available. As a supra-regional centre, we offer the entire range of operations for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of bone and soft tissue infections.

• Osteitis with and without soft tissue damage
• Joint infections
• Infected endoprostheses
• Bone reconstruction - Ilizarov procedure