title: Minimally invasive management of a floating prosthesis injury with locking plates.
abstract: Periprosthetic fractures involving a total knee arthroplasty pose a challenging treatment problem with a prevalence of up to 2.5% in the literature (Instr Course Lect 2001;50:379-389). The supracondylar region of the femur is commonly involved, often with minimal available bone in contact with the components. The clinical challenges are particularly more complex in the case of a combined distal femoral and proximal tibial periprosthetic fracture. This injury is considered a "floating prosthesis" injury because of the complete separation of the prosthesis from the remaining skeleton. In this report, a floating prosthesis injury, in combination with a femoral shaft fracture, is treated with 2 locking plates using a minimally invasive technique, with limited blood loss, immediate pain relief after surgery, and successful healing of all fractures with minimal deformity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Amir A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Jamali
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donthineni
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Meehan
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery