Rigid Intramedullary Nailing of Femoral Shaft Fractures in Skeletally Immature Patients Using...

We describe rigid intramedullary nailing using a trochanteric entry for internal fixation of femoral shaft fractures in older children and adolescents.

Femoral shaft fractures are a common injury among children and adolescents. A variety of treatment options exist to address this injury. Flexible intramedullary nailing may be the ideal treatment for stable fractures in children between the ages of five and ten years who weigh less than 100 lb (less than 45 kg). However, older and larger children have higher rates of complications with this technique, including excessive limb shortening, unacceptable angulation, and loss of fixation. Other options include traction and spica cast application, external fixation, or plate fixation, although there are disadvantages with these alternatives in older and larger patients. Rigid intramedullary nailing, the standard treatment of femoral shaft fractures in adults, has good results in older children and adolescents. Rigid intramedullary nailing has multiple advantages, including decreased length of hospital stay, earlier mobilization, shortened rehabilitation, and overall decreased cost of hospitalization. Other potential advantages include a decreased rate of delayed union, malunion, rotational deformity, and refracture.

[johnbai]

MY brother had this. After 2 years, I found out that his legs aren’t the same length. Do you how we can get that fixed?
THANK YOU