Megaprostheses after resection of distal femoral tumors - A rotating hinge design in 30 patients followed for 2-7 years

Between 1981-1993, we inserted 32 Kinematic notating-Hinge Knee tumor prostheses in 30 patients, of which 2 concerned revisions of the same type of prosthesis, The diagnoses were 21 osteosarcomas, 2 chondrosarcomas, 2 Ewing's sarcomas, 2 metastatic breast carcinomas, 1 multiple myeloma, 1 giant cell tumor and 1 Gorham's disease, The median age was 25 (12-60) years and the median follow-up for survivors was 3.5 (2-6.6) years. There were 7 metastases and 1 local recurrence. 20 knees had excellent (MSTS) scores for motion (median flexion 120 degrees), 8 had good (84 degrees) and 4 had fair (45 degrees). The overall function was excellent in 6 cases, good in 14, fair in 9 and poor in 3, The radiographic assessment (ISOLS) gave ''excellent'' or ''good'' scores in 27 knees for bone remodelling, 31 for the interface, 28 for anchorage, 31 for the implant body and 30 for the articulation, Extracortical bone bridging greater than 25% was observed in 18 of 27 prostheses.