ABSTRACT
Background: There is a little disagreement concerning the treatment of long bone fractures in children less than 6 years ( plaster of paris cast) and adolescents older than 16 years (locked intramedullary nailing). Controversy persists regarding the age between 6 to 16 years, with several available options. Whatever the method of treatment, the goals should be to stabilize the fracture, to control length and alignment, to promote bone healing, and to minimize the morbidity and complications for the child and his/her family. The objective of this prospective clinical study was to evaluate the results of operative treatment of pediatric long bone fractures in the age group between 5 to 16 years using titanium elastic nailing system (TENS) nails. Methods: All children and adolescent patients between 5-16 years of age with diaphyseal fractures of long bones were admitted at Mamatha general and superspeciality hospital, Khammam. Meeting the inclusion and the exclusion criteria during the study period were the subjects for the study. Totally, 30 cases were studied without any sampling procedure. Patients were followed up at 6, 12 and 24 weeks after surgery and assessed clinically and radiologically. The final outcome is assessed as per Flynn’s criteria as excellent/ satisfactory/poor. Results: The final outcome was excellent in 22 (73.33%) cases, satisfactory in 8 (26.67%) cases and there were no poor outcome cases. Conclusion:Titanium elastic nail fixation is a simple, easy, rapid, reliable, excellent and effective method for management of pediatric long bone fractures between the age of 5 to 16 years, with shorter operative time, lesser blood less, lesser radiation exposure, shorter hospital stay, and reasonable time to bone healing.