Outcomes of Surgical Management of Floating Knee Injuries

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Floating knee, referred to as ipsilateralfractures of the femur and tibia, is usually associated withseveral complications and mortality. This study was designedto present our experience with treatment of this injury.Demographic parameters like age, sex, mechanism of injury,associated injuries, method and results of treatment, andcomplications of floating knee are discussedMaterial and Methods: This Prospective study wasperformed between January 2014-July 2016. All patientswith floating knee injuries who were admitted to the PMCHfulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included.The information about the 20 cases of floating knee injurieswere gathered, particularly the demographic parameters, modeof injury, bones involved, condition of skin, other associatedinjuries and their neurovascular status. The patients werefollowed for a minimum of one year duration and functionaloutcome was assessed.Result: Most of the patients were between 21-30years of age(45%). The floating knee injuries were more common in males(85%). FraserType I fracture was observed in 70% of cases.Roadtraffic accidents(RTA) was the most common cause ofsuch injuries. 18 out of 20(90%) cases were having associatedinjuries while only 10%were cases of isolated floating knee.The most common early and late complications were infectionand knee stiffness respectively. The final outcome as perKarlstrom criteria was excellent and good in 11 out of 14 casesof Fraser type I fracture and in 3 out of 6 cases of Fraser type IIfracture, and this was statistically significant (P=0.05).Conclusion: This study revealed that the complication rateassociated with floating knee injuries remain high and theprognosis mostly depends on type of injury and associatedinjuries. This study also advocates early aggressive approachfor management of these injuries.