Late Open Intramedullary Kuntscger Nailing of Femoral Shaft Fractures

ABSTRACT

One hundred and three femoral shaft fractures treated by open intramedullary Kuntscher nailing between July 1998 and June 2001 were studied retrospectively. Their ages ranged between 9 and 70 years of age with a mean age 30.6 years; males accounting for 82.5. Most of the injuries (72.8) resulted from road traffic accidents. All were operated late after failure of traction with time between injury and surgery ranging from one week to 16 weeks; with a mean duration of 7 weeks. The commonest complication was reduced knee flexion; with 16 (16) of the patients having a knee flexion of less than 1000 six weeks after surgery. Osteomyelitis occurred in 3 patients (2.9) but all had full recovery after control of the infection. Fatigue fracture of nails (implant failure) requiring renailing occurred in 7 patients (6.8). These results support the continued use of open intramedullary Kuntscher nailing of femoral shaft fractures in developing countries where the necessary infrastructure and expertise required for closed interlocking intramedullary nailing is not available