The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 58, Issue 7 945-951, Copyright © 1976 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Long-term results in the treatment of femoral-shaft fractures in young children by immediate spica immobilization
RN Irani, JT Nicholson and SM Chung
Manual traction reduction without anesthesia and immediate immobilization
in a spica cast were used to treat eighty-five children ranging in age from
birth to ten years old who had closed femoral-shaft fractures and no
associated injuries. Up to two centimeters of overriding, 30 degrees of
anterior angulation, and 15 degrees of medial angulation were accepted. Any
angulation in excess of these amounts, or lateral or posterior angulation,
was corrected by wedging the cast at the fracture site. Further telescoping
of the fracture fragments in the case was attributed to the child pressing
the foot against the bottom of the cast and was prevented by removing the
sole of the cast. Of the seventy-five children examined two to eighteen
years after fracture, none had any residual skeletal deformity or joint
stiffness. The length discrepancies of the fractured limbs ranged from 1.7
centimeters of shortening to 0.9 centimeter of overgrowth.