A STUDY ON FRACTURE OF FEMUR SHAFT TREATMENT WITH INTRAMEDULLARY INTERLOCKING NAILING

Background: Rigid interlocking nailing for femoral shaft fracture is ideal for use in adolescents in terms of stability of the fracture and convenience for the patient. Closed reduction and intramedullary interlocking nailing is the surgical treatment of choice for the closed shaft fractures of femur. Present study conducted to study the principles of intramedullary interlocking nailing and to assess the outcome of the patient. Methods: The present study comprises of 30 cases of fracture shaft of the femur in adults about >20 years old. All the fractures, which were included in the study were traumatic in origin, most of them are due to road traffic accidents. Results: The delayed union rate in our series was 6.67%. There were no non-unions. Conclusions: It is concluded that closed intramedullary interlocking nailing method given good result in treatment of shaft fractures of femur. Keywords: Intramedullary nailing, Femur, Diaphysis fractures, Interlocking

“Management of Femur Shaft Fracture with Nancy Nail in the Setting of Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa”: A case report

BackgroundThe management of bone fractures must achieve both the reduction and stability providence. However, dermatological conditions such as dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) for instance can lead to catastrophic events when operating on the patient’s bone fracture. This can lead to wound infections and possible failure of bone healing leading to fracture nonunion. This dermatological disorder leads to heterogenous bullous dermatoses including cutaneous fragility leading to cutaneous bullous formation after exposure to any type of trauma. DEB is a rare inherited form of the disease characterized by the formation of cutaneous bullae. DEB is associated with a genetic mutation of COL7A1 gene that encodes collagen type VII. Due to the rarity and uniqueness of the disease, special modifications due to the challenges faced during the patient care approach were accomplished to prevent any possible harm to the patient. In this study, we propose a case report that is followed by the anesthetic and surgical challenges faced and how they were modified upon.Case PresentationA 20-year-old female presented to the emergency department with a spiral mid-diaphyseal fracture of the femur after an incidence of falling from bed. The patient was previously diagnosed with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa which made this case unique and complex. As the patient was examined by the team, her skin was covered with old blisters and wounds that have developed with the consequence of the disease. Due to the sophisticated dermatological condition and the unique presentation, the established multidisciplinary team took a decision to treat the patient with flexible intramedullary nailing in an open versus closed reduction technique, and modifications of the treatment approach were done based on the challenges in this case. The goal was to provide the management while minimizing the risk of infections and complications that would have arisen. The proposed case will set a baseline for the management of similar cases.ConclusionsWe suggest that in order to manage femur shaft fracture in the setting of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, modifying the management to avoid the least possible skin harm at any expense while managing the bone fracture is the golden approach.

Management of complex femur fractures in children: A report of Three Cases

Introduction:Complex femur fractures are defined as combined fractures of shaft and proximal of or the distal femur. Restoration of anatomical alignment is the primary goal of the management of these fractures. In this report, we describe the management of complex femur shaft fractures in three pediatric patients. Case Report: This report includes three patients. The first patient was a 10-year-boy with comminuted proximal femur shaft fracture extending into the subtrochanteric area, managed with minimally invasive sub-muscular plating. The second patient was a 12-year-boy with comminuted femur shaft extending into subtrochanteric area, treated with combined retrograde and anterograde Titanium Elastic Nail System. A 12-year-old boy with femur shaft with intertrochanteric fracture managed with K-wire fixation for intertrochanteric fracture and plating with dynamic compression plate for femur shaft was our third patient. All patients had excellent radiological and functional outcome. Conclusion: Complex femur shaft fractures in children are very rare and challenging injuries. With proper pre-operative planning and use of appropriate implants excellent outcomes can be obtained. Keywords:Complex femur fractures, pediatric orthopedics, sub-muscular plating, titanium elastic nailing.

Novel technique of removal of broken intra-medullary nail from femur with secondary DCS plating

<p class="abstract">Femoral shaft fractures are one of the commonest fractures of the lower limb which are frequently operated with intramedullary nailing which enables immediate post-operative mobilization of the patient. There could be various causes of nail breakage – some of the notable being weight bearing over the non-union of the femur shaft, or a re-trauma over the operated limb causing both the implant and the nail to be broken. There are various methods of removal of the broken implant the commonest being the use of T-reamer technique. However not always can this be used due to varied intra-operative obstacles in different cases as described in this case below. We have a 35 year old male patient who was brought to us 2 hours after an alleged history of slip and fall following which he had sustained right sided subtrochanteric femur fracture with a broken implant – intramedullary interlock nail. The patient is a previously operated case of right sided femur shaft fracture with interlocking nailing done 15 years back. The patient was operated with – broken implant removal on the right side along with a secondary DCS plating with bone grafting for the subtrochanteric femur fracture. Intra operative period was met with a certain number of challenges and difficulties in view of a 15 year old implant for removal which was successfully with removed with DCS plating done. As is obvious with the above case, it would be quite imperative to say that older the implant, more difficult it becomes for its removal. </p>

Outcome of proximal femur shaft fractures in school going children treated with locking compression plates

Objectives: To determine the clinical and radiological outcome of proximal femur shaft fractures in school going children treated with locking compression plates (LCP). Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Orthopaedic Division Lady Ready Reading Hospital Peshawar from 25th June 2018 to 25th September 2020. Children of either gender and age 6 to 12 years old with subtrochanteric and proximal one third femur factures fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in this study. Open reduction and internal fixation with 4.5 mm narrow locking compression plates (LCP) were done in all. Post operative clinical outcome was evaluated by using Flynn scoring system and graded as excellent, satisfactory and poo results. Radiological assessment of fracture union was done through anteroposterior (AP) and lateral X-ray radiographs. Results: A total of 60 children with mean age 9.01±1.61 SD (range 6 to 12 years) were included in our study. Oblique fractures were present in 23(38.3%) children, spiral in 20(33.3%), transverse in 11(18.3%) and comminuted in 6 (10%) children. The radiological union time was 13.3±1.2 weeks (range 9.4 to 18 weeks). Majority (88.3%, n=53) of children had excellent clinical outcome according to Flynn’s scoring system while satisfactory outcome was noted in 7(11.6%) children. No cases of delayed union, mal union, nonunion and implant failure was reported. Conclusion: The results of our study indicated that proximal femoral shaft fractures in school going children treated with locking compression plates had excellent clinical and radiological outcome. We therefore recommend locking compression plate as the implant of choice to fix proximal femoral shaft fractures in school going children. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.3938 How to cite this:Shah FA, Ali MA, Naeemullah. Outcome of proximal femur shaft fractures in school going children treated with locking compression plates. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.3938 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Leg-length discrepancy and associated risk factors after paediatric femur shaft fracture: a multicentre study

Purpose This study was performed to investigate leg-length discrepancy (LLD) and associated risk factors after paediatric femur shaft fractures. Methods A total of 72 consecutive patients under 13 years old (mean age 6.7 years; 48 boys, 24 girls) with unilateral femur shaft fracture, and a minimum follow-up of 18 months, were included. The amount of LLD was calculated by subtracting the length of the uninjured from that of the injured limb. Risk factors for an LLD ≥ 1 cm and ≥ 2 cm were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results Hip spica casting, titanium elastic nailing and plating were performed on 22, 40 and ten patients, respectively. The mean LLD was 7.8 mm (sd 8.8) and 29 (40.3%) had a LLD of ≥ 1 cm, while nine (12.5%) had a LLD of ≥ 2 cm. There were significant differences in fracture stability (p = 0.005) and treatment methods (p = 0.011) between patients with LLD < 1 cm and ≥ 1 cm. There were significant differences in fracture site shortening (p < 0.001) and LLD (p < 0.001) between patients with length-stable and length-unstable fractures. Fracture stability was the only factor associated with LLD ≥ 1 cm (odds ratio of 4.0; p = 0.020) in the multivariable analysis. Conclusion This study demonstrated that fracture stability was significantly associated with LLD after paediatric femur shaft fractures. Therefore, the surgeon should consider the possibility of LLD after length-stable femur shaft fracture in children. Level of Evidence Prognostic level III