Modification of plating in fractures of proximal shaft femur in adolescents

ABSTRACT

17 patients with fracture upper third femur in adolescents treated surgically by cloverleaf plate in King Fahad Hospital madina and Ain Shams University Hospitals between 1992 and 1995. Their age was 12.3 to 17.8 years old, mean age was 15.4, 11 patients were males while 6 patients were females. The patients were treated with open reduction and internal fixation by cloverleaf plate. The wings of the plate bent to hold the proximal fragment and the greater trochanter. Ten patients were operated within 6 hours while the rest operated upon within 5 to 11 days after trauma. The follow up range between 9 to 14 months, average 12.5 months. Healing takes 12 weeks average, ranges between 9 to 18 weeks. Final follow up, all patients united with full range of motion at the hip and knee, with only one patient with leg discrepancies above 1 cm [1.8 cm]. One patient suffer from superficial wound infection that resolved after I.V. antibiotics