Augmentation plating for femoral fractures and postoperative femoral nonunion / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the augmentation plating for femoral fractures and postoperative femoral nonunion. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted of 60 patients with femoral fracture or postoperative femoral nonunion who had been treated with augmentation plating from January 2008 to July 2015. They were 36 males and 24 females, aged from 15 to 79 years ( average, 43. 4 years ) . Of them, 20 cases suffered nonunion following intramedullary nailing of femoral shaft fracture, 18 nonunion following lateral plating for femoral distal or lower fracture, and 22 femoral distal or lower fracture complicated with comminuted fracture of medial column. An incision ranging from 6 to 10 cm was made around the fracture ends for augmentative plating for all the patients. Autogenous iliac bone graft was performed in patients with atrophic nonunion or ob-vious gap after reduction of the comminuted fracture. Operation time, intraoperative bleeding, healing time, complications, and functionary recovery of the affected knee were recorded. Results The operation time averaged 121. 5 min and the intraoperative bleeding 356. 3 mL. All the patients were followed up for 12 to 36 months ( average, 16. 9 months ) . All the fractures and nonunions healed after an average time of 4. 2 months ( from 3 to 4 months ) . The time for initial partial weight-bearing averaged 4. 5 weeks ( from 2 to 6 weeks ) and the time for initial full weight bearing 3. 3 months ( from 2 to 4 months ) . Evaluation according to the Karlstrom and Olerud criteria at the last follow-up revealed 29 excellent, 24 good and 7 fair cases, yielding an excellent and good rate of 88. 3％. No infection, loosening, bending or breaking of internal implants, or refracture was noted during follow-ups. Conclusion Augmentation plating through a small incision can lead to fine outcomes for femoral fractures and postoperative femoral nonunion, because it makes up the deficient stability of original in-ternal fixation, reduces the dislocated bone blocks and provides bone grafting to improve defective local bone structure and defective osteogenesis.