Intramedullary pressure and bone marrow fat extravasation in reamed and unreamed femoral nailing

This study was designed to investigate whether intramedullary pressure and embolization of bone marrow fat are different in unreamed compared with conventional reamed femoral nailing in vivo. In a baboon model, the femoral shaft was stabilized with interlocking nailing after a midshaft osteotomy. Intramedullary pressure was measured in the distal femoral shaft fragment at the supracondylar region. Extravasation of bone marrow fat was determined by the modified Gurd test (range: 0–5) with blood samples from the vena cava inferior. Data were monitored in eight unreamed and eight reamed intramedullary femoral nailing procedures. Intramedullary pressure increased in the unreamed group to 76 ± 25 mm Hg (10.1 ± 3.3 kPa) during insertion of 7-mm nails and in the reamed group to 879 ± 44 mm Hg (117.2 ± 5.9 kPa) during reaming of the medullary cavity. Insertion of 9-mm nails after the medullary cavity had been reamed to 10 mm produced an intramedullary pressure of 254 ± 94 mm Hg (33.9 ± 12.5 kPa) (p < 0.05). Fat extravasation in the unreamed group was recorded with a score of 2.9 ± 0.4 for the Gurd test during nailing with 7-mm nails, whereas in the reamed group significantly more fat extravasation was noticed during the reaming procedures, with a score of 4.6 ± 0.1. Liberation of fat during insertion of 9-mm nails after reaming was recorded with a score of 3.5 ± 0.4. In both groups, a positive correlation of fat extravasation with the rise in intramedullary pressure was found (reamed group: rs = 0.868: unreamed group: rs = 0.698), resulting in significantly less liberation of bone marrow fat in the unreamed stabilized group than in the reamed control group (p < 0.05). The data indicate that fat embolization during nailing procedures after femoral osteotomy increases with increasing intramedullary pressure and occurs in a lesser degree in unreamed than in reamed intramedullary femoral shaft stabilization.