title: How risky is early intramedullary nailing of femoral fractures in polytraumatized patients?
abstract: There is controversy over both the time of intervention and the technique of surgical stabilisation of femoral fractures in polytraumatized patients. Retrospective analysis of data on 55 such patients revealed that stabilisation within the first 24 h using locked, unreamed nails had no negative impact on the rate of pulmonary complications. The frequency of complications was assessed by comparing immediate intramedullary (IM) osteosynthesis with extramedullary stabilisation in patients with or without concomitant blunt thoracic trauma. Due to the small study population and discrepancies the size of subgroups, no definite statistical conclusions were possible. However, our results suggest that the frequency of complications is determined by the overall severity of injury rather than by the type of acute surgical treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Bürkle-de-la-Camp Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany. friedrich.kutscha-lissberg@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kutscha-Lissberg
authors.forename: F K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Hopf
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kollig
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muhr
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001858:Bone Nails; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000150:complications