Complication and its Prevention during the Treatment of Femoral Shaft Fracture with Interlocking Intramedullary Nail / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: In order to popularize the use of interlocking nail, the authors reviewed 81 femoral shaft fractures in 80 patients who were treated with interlocking nail from July 1988 to October 1997. Material and Method: There are 60 males and 20 females. Forty-one fractures were of left femur and 40 of right. The average age was 33 years(range 15-79 years) . Results: The results showed that 60 cases of fractures that followed up over half a year had bony union. The complications included one bone union failure due to incorrect indication. two fractures during the operation, misinserting the proximal screw in 2, and misinserting the distal screw in 3, lengthening of the extremity in 2, valgus knee in 2, deep infection in 1, delayed infection in 1, nail broken in 3, proximal screw broken in 1, distal screw broken in 1, distal screw loosening in 2. Conclusion: 1) The indication must be correctly chosen. 2) Well-trained operative technique for interlocking nail is necessary to reduce the compli cation. 3 )The patient with old or comminuted fracture fixed with G - K nail should properly delay the time to start weight bearing.