Prognosis
By definition, a nonunion will not heal if left alone. Therefore, the patients symptoms will not be improved and the function of the limb will remain impaired. It will be painful to bear weight on it and it may be deformed or unstable. The prognosis of nonunion if treated depends on many factors including the age and general health of the patient, the time since the original injury, the number of previous surgeries, smoking history, the patients ability to cooperate with the treatment. In the region of 80% of nonunions heal after the first operation. The success rate with subsequent surgeries is less. See also
Distraction osteogenesis

References
External links

AAOS
Diagnosis
In 1983, Heffez and colleagues published a case report in which they suggested eight criteria for a definitive diagnosis of Gorhams disease:
Positive biopsy with the presence of angiomatous tissue
Absence of cellular atypia
Minimal or no osteoblastic response or dystrophic calcifications
Evidence of local bone progressive osseous resorption
Nonexpansile, nonulcerative lesions
No involvement of viscera
Osteolytic radiographic pattern
Negative hereditary, metabolic, neoplastic, immunologic, or infectious etiologyIn the early stages of the disease, X-rays reveal changes resembling patchy osteoporosis. As the disease progresses, bone deformity occurs with further loss of bone mass, and in the tubular bones (the long bones of the arms and legs), a concentric shrinkage is often seen which has been described as having a "sucked candy" appearance. Once the cortex (the outer shell) of the bone has been disrupted, and vascular channels may invade adjacent soft tissues and joints. Eventually, complete or near-complete resorption of the bone occurs and may extend to adjacent bones, though spontaneous arrest of bone loss has been reported on occasion. Throughout this process, as the bone is destroyed, it is replaced by angiomatous and/or fibrous tissue.Often, Gorhams disease is not recognized until a fracture occurs, with subsequent improper bone healing. The diagnosis essentially is one of exclusion and must be based on combined clinical, radiological, and histopathological findings. X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and nuclear medicine (bone scans) are all important tools in the diagnostic workup and surgical planning, but none has the ability alone to produce a definitive diagnosis.