Femoral Fracture Malalignment following Interlocking Intramedullary Nailing

Interlocking intramedullary nailing has become a common method of treatment for femoral shaft fractures in adults. But sometimes the malalignment of the femoral fracture results in pain, limb length discrepancy, and traumatic osteoarthritis of the knee, etc. Therefore, it is very important to know what makes the malalignment after the femoral shaft fractures. We performed CT scan in 46 patients who had femoral shaft fractures, treated by interlocking intramedullary nailing at the orthopaedic department of the Kwangju Verterans Hospital. There were thirty-five men and eleven women, and their mean age was 36 years at the time of the operation. We measured the rotational deformity of both femurs by the CT scanning and the angulation deformity by plain radiographs in forty-six patients. We also compared the amount of the angulation and rotational deformity according to the type or the site of fracture, the degree of comminution, the time from injury to operation and the associated injury. Average angulation deformity was 2.7°in sagittal plane and 2.5°in coronal plane. Average 대한골절학회지 제12권, 제1호, 1 9 9 9년 1월 The Journal of the Korean Society of Fractures Vol.12, No.1, January, 1999