Prognosis of fractures of the lower end of the femur in children and adolescents. Apropos of 96 cases

A multicentre study undertaken in a number of orthopaedic and traumatology departments of hospitals in the East of France have made it possible to bring together, over 10 consecutive years, 96 fractures of the lower end of the femur in children and adolescents. The analysis of this retrospective series agrees with the findings in the literature both in its clinical features and the methods of treatment. The results were very good in 84 per cent of cases. The authors feel that the standard scoring systems are too optimistic and they prefer an analytic description of the complications which presented in 54 per cent of cases with 13 per cent of malunions, 16 per cent of epiphysiodeses and 7 per cent of inequalities of limb length greater than 10 mm. The etiology and pathology of these diverse complications is reviewed. Vascular lesions seem to play an unimportant role. The prognosis, as defined, seems to be realistic since this work has taken account of a large proportion of the fractures occurring during the same period in the same region.