The Treatment of Tibial Shaft Fractures by Closed Kuntscher I / 대한정형외과학회잡지

ABSTRACT

Frature of the tibial shaft is the most common fracture of the long bone and the treatment has become one of the most controversial subjects in orthopedic surgery. 61 cases of tibial shaft fracture in adults were treated by closed Kuntscher I-M nailing at the department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dae-Jeon Eul-Ji Hospital during 5 years from January, 1983 to December, 1987. In this paper we are reporting our result of 52 selected cases which we could follow up more than 6 months. The results were as follows. 1. The mean duration of clinical bone union was 9.6 weeks and that of radiological bone union was 15.6 weeks. 2. 6 cases of complication were noted with a little impairment of function finally. The complication were ankle joint stiffness(2), superficial infection(1), irritation of protruded nail(2) and bursting fracture(1). 3. Closed Kuntscher and occasionally combined interlocking I-M nailing are relatively short operative procedure with rigid fixation, low complication, wide indication and early weight bearing. So we consider them to be good methods of treatment for tibial shaft fractures.