Not actually that rare to see. Reabsorption of bone is fairly common place in non unionized fractures that don't end up getting good blood flow. Osteoclasts will breakdown the bone fragments that don't unionize, especially if the bone isn't really responsible for weight bearing.

The only thing thats fake about this is a group of doctors being mystified by any of it.

My only regret

Is that I have

Boneitis

God dang aliens takin our bones I tell you what

Btw, couldn't doctors just use git for your medicinal record? Every change is logged and attributed and all.

Moopsy!

Weirdest instance I can think of where somebody lost something important was a young woman doing a bouncy Irish stepdance on a sidewalk above a very steep embankment. Suddenly her phone flew out of her sweater pocket and she back-kicked it over the precipice.

Orthopods stuck the tibial nail in and probably decided that the fibula didn’t need to be fixed because it doesn’t do much so they didn’t bother. The bone then healed as a malunion.

Looks like someone had some extra parts left laying around when they put everything back together.

see this is why you should always keep track of your bones

https://youtu.be/2gwA5mQD9Ck

Well it's always in the last place you look

AI probably stole your fibula to make crappy imitation fibulas!

Looks like the person must have lost it in accident that required installing the rod.

I would assume it was pulverized in whatever accident required the pins to be installed. What's more surprising than why it's missing, is why they didn't replace that section of bone with anything, while they were operating the 1st time.

Did they take it out when they put the pins in or maybe accidentally? I guess it could be infection. Crazy.

that was me, I took it. I needed it for a potion