Biological plating of comminuted fractures of femur and tibia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The treatment of comminuted fractures in long bones has continued to be a problem in orthopedic surgery. Recently, fixation without exploration of the fracture site, known as "biologic fixation”, has been introduced. This study was performed to assess the results and complications of this method for the treatment of comminuted fractures of the tibia and femur.
METHODS: The study included 41 patients with comminuted fractures of the tibia and femur treated with biologic plating from 2003 to 2006 (25 femur fractures and 16 tibial fractures). After biological fixation joint motion was started but weight bearing was avoided until radiographic evidence of union was shown.
RESULTS: The mean time of union in the tibial fractures was 19 ± 2 weeks and 17 ± 2 weeks for the femur fractures. All patients had fracture union without any infection, non-union or implant failure. In one patient with a femur fracture there was a 10° internal rotation deformity. Two of the femoral fractures had shortening of 1 cm, and one patient had shortening of about 2 cm. Compared to similar studies, all results were statistically significant (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: The biologic plating method is a safe, simple and effective method of fixation for comminuted fractures of long bones. It has a high rate of union with minimal complications.
KEY WORDS: Biological fixation, plate, comminuted fracture.