title: Inability to deploy the distal fixator fin of a Brooker-Wills nail.
abstract: While a Brooker-Wills nail was being placed in an osteotomized femur during the course of a closed femoral shortening procedure, the slot holding the distal fixator fin was deformed as it was driven across the fracture/osteotomy site (approximately 50% apposition), and the fin could not have been deployed had it been needed for stabilization of the fracture. This case illustrates the importance of maintaining a meticulous closed reduction and of obtaining oblique image intensifier views of the distal portion of this nail while it is being inserted.
authors.affiliation: Section on Orthopedic Surgery, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: L X
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Webb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000601:surgery*; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D007870:Leg Length Inequality / Q000601:surgery*; D010027:Osteotomy / Q000295:instrumentation*