Treatment of supracondylar femoral fractures with a retrograde intramedullary nail.
From August 1992 to January 1995, 24 patients with 26 supracondylar femoral fractures were treated with a retrograde intramedullary nail. There were 22 patients with 24 nails available for review. Eight fractures were open and 13 were intraarticular fractures. There were a significant number of associated injuries. The average followup interval was 18 months (range, 4-36 months). All fractures healed by 4 months, (average, 3 months). Only 1 patient required bone grafting. There were no implant failures or superficial or deep infections. One malunion occurred. Average knee range of motion was 104 degrees. A previously described rating scale was used to evaluate function. There were 4 excellent, 16 good, 2 fair, and 2 poor results. The supracondylar nail provides rigid internal fixation for rapid healing and comparable functional outcomes to lateral fixation devices with significantly less soft tissue dissection.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
R E
RE
Gellman
G D
GD
Paiement
H D
HD
Green
R R
RR
Coughlin
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000379:methods; D017102:Fracture Healing; D005597:Fractures, Open / Q000601:surgery; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000145:classification / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D016896:Treatment Outcome