• TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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    22 hours ago

    Doesn’t really look like it’s been taken out for a graft, at least not anytime recently. My bet would be he acquired a atrophic nonunion fracture the same time he broke his tibia. The rounded edges of the bone look more like they’ve been subject to resorption instead of being excised.

    Honestly not that rare for fibular fractures, though the segment missing is fairly large. So it’s probably a fairly old injury.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      20 hours ago

      I suspect an older harvest. The callus combined with some perimeter resorption tends to lead to a conical profile. Sometimes the callus will even hypertrophy and make a couple of little drumsticks.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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        20 hours ago

        It’s a possibility, but I doubt it considering the profile pic seems to be of a relatively young patient. Plus, I’m not seeing anywhere on the tibia where a graft would be necessary, of course it could have been utilized elsewhere.

        It would also be an odd place to harvest from, usually you would shoot for an area a little more distal to the attachment point of the extensor hallucis longus.