Abstract
Background and Objective: Today the comminuted femoral fractures are very common because increment of vehicles traffic and accident. These fractures can lead to long-term disabilities. This type of fracture has always been a problem for the society of orthopedic surgeons, and various methods of treatment have been suggested in the literature and references. The goal of the study was to determine the outcomes of using minimal invasive technique, which is referred to a new method and technique.
Materials and Methods: This study is a prospective one, which was carried out on 36 patients with comminuted femoral fractures who had not suffered burning, open fracture, head injuries. The patients had referred to the Shohada hospital in the course of six months (From 23 October 2004 to 20 April 2005), and undergone plating surgery with minimum manipulation, and followed up from 6 to 12 months. Follow up evaluation study were include the time of union and the status of the extremities from the view point of rotation, shortening and lengthening.
Results: The results showed that complete union rate was 77.8% (24 out of 36 patients) with the delayed union were seen in 22.7% (7 out of 36 patients) in six months. There was no serious complication in the follow- up period other than a few superficial infections. There was no significant correlation between the union rate and sex. However, there was a statistically significant correction between age and union. Lengthening of the extremities ranging from 1-2 cm was observed in 10 patients, while shortening of lower than 1cm was also observed in 4 patients. Rotation disorder existed in 8 patients with internal rotation and in 2 patients with external rotation.
Conclusion: The new plating technique with minimum manipulation can be regarded as a suitable substitute for the previous ones. The basic principle of this method is not damaging the soft tissue at the fracture site which leads to faster healing of the bone. This technique is, in fact, a biologically stabilizing method similar to the closed intramedullary nailing technique.