DECORTICATION AND OSTEOTOMY FOR THE CORRECTION OF MULTIPLANAR DEFORMITY IN ADULT FEMORAL DIAPHYSEAL FRACTURE MALUNION: A CASE SERIES AND TECHNIQUE DESCRIPTION

AimTo review the patients that have undergone correction of a symptomatic femoral malunion using osteotomy combined with decortication.MethodsA retrospective review of all patients who have undergone the procedure, looking at the pre-operative deformity, correction achieved, time to union and complications.ResultsSeven patients underwent correction under the senior author from 2003 to today. Average age was 46 years (range 32–60 years). All had femoral shortening, average 2.7cm (range 2–4cm). Each also had at least one other plane of deformity with rotation being the next most commonly encountered in 5 out of the 7 (average 33 degrees). 2 had tri-planar deformity with the 5 having bi-planar deformity. Average time to union was 18.4 months (range 7 to 39 months) with an average of 1.6 operations (range 1 to 3 operations) to union. Two patients are awaiting union, 1 has required repeat plating and one is a primary fixation and correction awaiting union.ConclusionCorrection of multiplanar deformity of the fe...