Bologna, July 27, 2026 – Operated on at 17 months for a tumor she then learned to walk with a hip prosthesis: it was the first case in the world. Today she is a 14-year-old girl and a few days ago she returned to Rizzoli to face a new stage of her journey. “There are surgical interventions that do not end when the wound is closed. They start that day and continue for many years”: with these words Dr. Laura Campanacci, from the Orthopedic Clinic 3 with an oncological focus at the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute of Bologna directed by Professor Davide Donati, tells the story that spans almost the entire life of the young patient and testifies to the value of continuity of care.
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The operation at 17 months and the first steps
She was just seventeen months old when she was operated on for a proximal femur Ewing sarcoma by Dr. Marco Manfrini: the doctor performed the tumor resection surgery and limb reconstruction with a composite prosthesis, consisting of a bone graft combined with a small prosthesis. A few months later the little girl took her very first steps on the “new” hip: the first documented case in the international orthopedic literature of this type of reconstruction performed on a child who had not yet started walking.
Check-ups during growth
In the following years the girl grew and with her also the need to adapt the reconstruction to her development, with a view to personalized care. Dr. Manfrini, assisted in some surgeries by Dr. Giuseppe Bianchi, performed the necessary surgical revisions to accompany her growth, aiming to preserve function and quality of life and always developing careful pre- and post-operative planning.
Return to Rizzoli at 14 years and the surgery
Today the little patient has become a 14-year-old girl and a few days ago she returned to Rizzoli to face a new stage of her journey. The team of Orthopedic Clinic 3, composed of Dr. Giuseppe Bianchi and Dr. Laura Campanacci, performed a surgery to correct the limb length discrepancy that developed during growth.
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The device
A lengthening nail was implanted that will allow recovery of about five centimeters of femur length through a magnetic device that the patient will be able to use independently at home, achieving a lengthening of about one millimeter per day.
Campanacci: “Giving back the future by building it together”
“This is pediatric oncological orthopedics – explains Dr. Campanacci –: it does not only mean removing a tumor. It means accompanying a child until they become a teenager, facing together every new challenge that growth can bring. It is a team effort that lasts years, often decades, and involves multiple surgeons and many professionals from different disciplines. Because our goal is not only to cure cancer. It is to give back the future by building it together with those who entrust themselves to our care.”
