Title

Anterolateral approach for benign proximal femoral lesions among Indian children

Authors

Aditya Jain¹, Sitanshu Barik^2,*, Anil Agarwal¹, Lokesh Sharma¹, Yogesh Patel¹ & Varun Garg¹

Affiliation

¹Department of Orthopedics, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, New Delhi, India; ²Department of Orthopedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Aditya Jain - E-mail: jain.aditya404@gmail.com
Sitanshu Barik - E-mail: drsitanshubarik@aiimsnagpur.edu.in
Anil Agarwal - E-mail: anilrachna@gmail.com

Lokesh Sharma - E-mail: lokeshsharma94@gmail.com
Yogesh Patel - E-mail: yogeshmonty30@gmail.com
Varun Garg - E-mail: varungarg9@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received May 1, 2026; Revised May 31, 2026; Accepted May 31, 2026, Published May 31, 2026
 

Abstract

Benign lytic lesions of the proximal femur in children cause pain, deformity, and pathological fractures, posing major challenges for bone stability and healing. Recent studies report pathological fractures in up to 32% of pediatric proximal femoral cysts and recurrence rates of about 17% after curettage and filling. Similarly, multicenter data from the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (EPOS) show failure rates of 36–43% in aneurysmal bone cysts of the proximal femur, highlighting the difficulty of achieving durable healing. Therefore, it is of interest to present the results of treating lytic lesions of the proximal femur in children through an anterolateral approach using curettage and non-vascularized fibular grafting. Hence, this retrospective study included 14 skeletally immature patients (mean age 7.1 years). The hip joint was exposed using the standard anterolateral approach, and fibula was harvested through a posterolateral incision. Aneurysmal bone cysts were the most common diagnosis (57.1%). Five patients (36%) required implant stabilization. At final follow up, all patients showed radiological healing at a mean of 4 months, with a mean Harris Hip Score of 78.8. Thus, the anterolateral approach with fibular grafting provides reliable exposure, facilitates bone healing, and allows implant use while preserving the lateral cortex in pediatric proximal femoral lesions.

Keywords

Neck femur; lytic lesion; benign lesion; fibula; anterolateral approach hip

Citation

Jain et al. Bioinformation 22(5): 2980-2984 (2026)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.