Retrograde flexible intramedullary nailing in children's femoral fractures.
We treated 31 femoral shaft fractures in 28 children with a mean age of 6.7 (5-10) years with retrograde flexible intramedullary nailing. There were 16 isolated fractures, while 12 children had associated injuries. The average time for union was 10.5 weeks and there were no delayed unions. There was one broken nail requiring change of treatment, but no infection or refractures. At follow-up after a mean time lapse of 27 months there was no limb-length inequality exceeding 1 cm and no malunion. We feel that femoral fractures in patients aged 5-10 years can be safely treated with retrograde flexible intramedullary nailing with minimal risk of surgical complications.
Oh
Chang-Wug
CW
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Taegu, Korea. cwoh@knu.ac.kr
Park
Byung-Chul
BC
Kim
Poong-Taek
PT
Kyung
Hee-Soo
HS
Kim
Sung-Jung
SJ
Ihn
Joo-Chul
JC
D001858:Bone Nails; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D016896:Treatment Outcome