The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 74, Issue 1 106-112, Copyright © 1992 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Intramedullary nailing of femoral shaft fractures. Part III: Long-term effects of static interlocking fixation
RJ Brumback, TS Ellison, A Poka, GH Bathon and AR Burgess
Shock Trauma Center, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, Baltimore 21201.
The results of treatment of fractures of the femoral shaft with static
interlocking nailing were reviewed retrospectively to determine the
clinical importance of any stress-riser or stress-shielding properties of
the nail. These properties, if relevant, would have been manifested by
refracture of the femur, either through a hole used for a locking screw or
through the original site of fracture after extraction of the device. Two
hundred and fourteen fractures that had been treated with static
interlocking nailing and that had healed without conversion to dynamic
intramedullary fixation were divided into two groups. In Group I, which
comprised 111 fractures, the static interlocking-fixation device was
retained and in Group II, which comprised 103 fractures, the static
interlocking-fixation device was removed during one operative procedure at
an average of fourteen months after the injury. The average duration of
follow-up was thirty months from the time of the original fixation in both
groups. All patients in Group II were followed for a minimum of six months
after removal of the nail. No femur in Group I, in which the static
interlocked nail remained in situ, refractured. No femur in either group
fractured through the proximal or the distal holes used for the locking
screws. No locking screws or nails broke. One patient (1 per cent) in Group
II had a refracture of the femoral shaft through the site of the original
fracture six weeks after removal of the nail.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250
WORDS)
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Technorati What's this?
