Tygerberg Hospital performs South Africa's first internal bone transport surgery

A 64-YEAR-OLD former police officer became the country’s first recipient of a fully internal bone transport and limb-lengthening reconstruction at Tygerberg Hospital.

- STAFF REPORTER

This is the only case of its kind performed in the country across both the state and private sectors.

In partnership with Stellenbosch University, the hospital now stands among only a few centres worldwide with the capability to perform this advanced limb salvage technique within the public sector.

The patient had lived with the long-term consequences of a severe gunshot injury sustained in 2018.

Despite multiple surgeries elsewhere, he continued to struggle with chronic pain, an unhealed fracture, and a substantial difference in leg length that affected his quality of life.

Surgeons reconstructed a 50 mm bone defect and corrected a 30 mm limb-length discrepancy.