Management of Tibia Fracture by Closed Intramedullary Nailing

Choy, Won Sik; Shin, Hung Dae; Kim, Whoan Jeong; Lee, Kwang Woo; Park, Tae Woo

Abstract

161 patients with tibia fracture were treated by closed intramedullary nailing at the department of Orthopedic Surgery, Eul-Ji General hospital, Dae Jeon, during 5 years from January, 1988 to April, 1993. 134 of these patients were performed with Kiintscher IM nailing and 27 patients with Ender nailing. Rigid IM nailing is the method of choice in tibia shaft fracture with rigid fixation, low complication, wide indication and early weight bearing, but the treatment of segmental fracture of the tibia will have many difficulties because of severe displacement, severe comminution, massive soft tissue damage and lack of blood supply at fracture site. Either antegrade or retrograde Ender nailing was of value for the management of segmental fracture which was too proximally or too dixtally located to insert interlocking screws, open fracture and soft tissue injury around Kiintscher insertion site. The result as fllows; 1. 43 fractures were open and 118 were closed. 69 fractures involved the distal portion, 55 fractures the middle portion, 13 fractures the proximal portion of the tibia and 24 fractures were segmental. 2. Among the 161 eases, 114 cases were male and 47 cases were female, the most common ages were ranged from 21 year to 30 year, involving 44 cases. 3. The most common cause was traffic accident. 4. Average intervals from injury to operation were 6.34 days(closed fracture) and 9.84 days(open fracture). 5. The mean durations of the bone union were 18.90 weeks(closed fracture) and 16.46 weeks(open fracture). 6. Complication included 7 cases delayed union, 3 cases nonunion, 8 cases superficial infection, 4 cases joint stiffness, 3 cases nail migration, 2 cases angular deformity, 2 cases rotational deformity, 1 cases osteomyelitis.