Titanium elastic intramedullary nailing : closed or mini-open reduction ?


Published online: Aug 30 2013

Bekir Yavuz UÇAR, Mehmet GEM, Mehmet BULUT, Ibrahim AZBOY, Abdullah DEMIRTA?, Celil ALEMDAR

From Dicle University Medical Faculty, Diyarbakir, Turkey

Abstract

The authors retrospectively studied 43 children with femoral fractures, treated with titanium elastic nailing (TEN). Twenty-two underwent closed fluoroscopic reduction ( Group I), whereas the other 21 underwent mini-open reduction (Group II). The operation time averaged 71 minutes in group I, and 48 minutes in group II (p < 0.001). The mean fluoroscopy time was 79.3 seconds in group I, and 35.5 seconds in group II (p < 0.001). However, blood loss and hospital stay were significantly higher in group II (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001 respectively). Time to full weight bearing, time to radiographic union and TEN outcome score did not differ significantly. Overall, no one technique was really superior. From a practical viewpoint, a mini-open reduction may be decided intra-operatively if closed reduction proves to be problematic. This decreases intra-operative radiation and length of the surgical procedure.