Lawrence B. Bone

External fixation of severely comminuted and open tibial pilon fractures.

Twenty patients with severely comminuted fractures about the ankle, either severely comminuted pilon fractures or open pilon fractures (three Grade II, seven Grade III), were managed with the use of a Delta-framed external fixator across the ankle joint. All fractures had open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with either screw fixation or small plates to stabilize the articular surface with minimal soft-tissue dissection. Average external fixator time was 2.5 months, and the time to union averaged 4.5 months. All fractures healed. Three delayed unions required bone grafting and two had plate stabilization. No infection occurred in the 12 open fractures. There was no infection of the closed injuries, no skin sloughs, and only two minor pin tract infections. Follow-up analysis averaged 12 months (range, six to 30 months). Range of motion (ROM) at last follow-up observation was excellent in six patients, good in nine, fair in three, and poor in two. Two patients required ankle arthrodesis because of posttraumatic arthritis. The ROM and outcomes of the severely comminuted or open fractures of the distal intraarticular tibia were very good.

Displaced Isolated Fractures of the Tibial Shaft Treated with Either a Cast or Intramedullary Nailing. An Outcome Analysis of Matched Pairs of Patients

A study of ninety-nine patients who had a unilateral, displaced, isolated closed fracture of the tibial shaft was performed to determine the effect of the type of treatment on the clinical outcome. Forty-seven patients were managed with closed intramedullary nailing with reaming, and fifty-two were managed with closed reduction and a cast. The two groups were comparable with regard to the ages of the patients, the locations and amounts of displacement of the fractures, and the number of patients who had a history of smoking. The time to union was shorter in the patients who had been managed with intramedullary nailing than in those who had been managed with a cast (mean, eighteen compared with twenty-six weeks; p = 0.02). A non-union occurred in one patient (2 per cent) who had been managed with nailing and in five patients (10 per cent) who had been managed with a cast. There were no infections in either group. Removal of the nail was performed electively in twenty-six patients. Twenty-five patients who had been managed with nailing and twenty-five who had been managed with a cast were followed for a mean of 4.4 years. With use of the Iowa Knee Evaluation and the Ankle-Evaluation Rating System, the patients who had had nailing had mean scores of 96 points (range, 68 to 100 points) and 97 points (range, 74 to 100 points) for the knee and the ankle, respectively, compared with 89 points (range, 62 to 100 points) and 84 points (range, 62 to 100 points) for those who had been managed with a cast (p < 0.05). Administration of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Survey to the twenty-five matched pairs of patients yielded scores that were significantly better after nailing than after treatment with a cast (a mean of 85 points [range, 27 to 99 points] compared with a mean of 74 points [range, 20 to 97 points]; p < 0.05). We concluded that the treatment of displaced closed fractures of the tibial shaft with closed intramedullary nailing with reaming provides functional results that are superior to those obtained with use of a cast.

Prospective study of union rate of open tibial fractures treated with locked, unreamed intramedullary nails.

Summary: This study was designed to verify whether open tibial fractures treated with an unreamed tibial nail would heal without the placement of a bone graft. Twenty-nine consecutive patients treated with unreamed tibial nails were prospectively followed to study fracture healing patterns. Monthly radiographs were studied for signs of healing without additional surgical intervention until it appeared that the fracture was a delayed union or nonunion. The average patient age was 31 years (range 16-80). Twenty-seven of the fractures were open (16 grade I, 8 grade II, 3 grade IIIA, with two additional fractures with compartment syndrome open by surgical intent. All fractures resulted from high-energy trauma. Twenty-two fractures were comminuted or segmental. Fifteen fractures healed without secondary intervention at an average of 148 days (range 98-243). Fourteen fractures needed additional intervention from between 3 and 7 months postinjury, with an average intervention of 1.9 per fracture. The two groups (primary healing and delayed union) were similar in fracture location, mechanism, and grade of injury. However, 13 of 14 delayed unions had comminuted or segmental fractures and required statically locked nails in 13 of the 14 fractures. Our experience suggests that the union rate is not improved with unreamed nails over that in the historical external fixator literature unless secondary surgical procedures are performed to change the local biology and enhance healing. We suggest early nail dynamization and bone grafting at 6 weeks to enhance and shorten healing time.

Open reduction and internal fixation of acetabular fractures: heterotopic ossification and other complications of treatment.

Open reduction and internal fixation was performed on 50 displaced acetabular fractures in 49 patients by nine different attending surgeons over a 10-year period. At an average follow-up of 38 months, poor results were noted clinically in 38% and radiographically in 40%. The incidence of short- and long-term complications was greater than in other studies. Particularly distressing was the 58% incidence of heterotopic ossification (HO). Twenty-four percent had grade III or IV; five hips were autofused and the remainder had 40–60% loss of motion. There was no correlation of HO with age, sex, fracture type, degree of communition, associated femoral head fracture or dislocation, delay to surgery, or operative time. However, 26 of 28 patients who had a trochanteric osteotomy as part of the operative exposure developed HO. Other complications included wound infection (12%), avascular necrosis of the femoral head (10%), nerve palsy (8%), and deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (8%). The data suggest formulation of specific treatment protocols, an awareness of surgical risks, and that staff specialization may reduce complications and improve outcome. Avoiding a trochanteric osteotomy at surgery and using prophylactic postoperative irradiation or indomethacin are suggested to reduce HO.

Treatment of femoral fractures in the multiply injured patient with thoracic injury.

Early fracture fixation in the multiply injured patient has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality. This premise recently has been questioned when the multiply injured patient has a pulmonary contusion, and also has a femoral fracture stabilized with a reamed intramedullary nail. This put into question whether early stabilization of femoral fractures, especially with a reamed intramedullary nail, should be performed in patients with a pulmonary contusion. A review of the most recent clinical and animal research was performed to help answer this question. This review has revealed that the incidence of pulmonary failure and adult respiratory distress syndrome in multiply injured patients with thoracic injuries who have femoral fractures treated acutely is less than 3%. The morbidity associated with patients with pulmonary contusions is independent of the treatment of the femoral fracture. No difference in the rate of pulmonary failure is found with reamed nails or plate fixation. The pulmonary failure seems to be secondary to the pulmonary contusion, not to the method of fracture fixation.

Femoral Nerve Block for Diaphyseal and Distal Femoral Fractures in the Emergency Department

BACKGROUND Diaphyseal and distal femoral fractures are painful injuries that are frequently seen in patients requiring a trauma work-up in the hospital emergency department prior to definitive management. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a femoral nerve block administered in the emergency department could provide better pain relief for patients with femoral fractures than currently used pain management practices. METHODS Patients who presented with an acute diaphyseal or distal femoral fracture were identified as potential candidates for this study. Eligible patients were randomized by medical record number to receive either (a) the femoral nerve block (20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine) along with standard pain management or (b) standard pain management alone (typically intravenous narcotics). The pain was assessed with use of a visual analog scale at the initial evaluation and at five, fifteen, thirty, sixty, and ninety minutes following the initial evaluation. Fifty-four patients were enrolled in the study from April 2005 to May 2006. Thirty-one patients received a femoral nerve block, and twenty-three patients received standard pain management alone. RESULTS Baseline scores on the visual analog pain scale did not differ between the groups at the initial evaluation. The patients who received a femoral nerve block (along with standard pain management) had significantly lower pain scores at five, fifteen, thirty, sixty, and ninety minutes following the block than did the patients who received standard pain management alone (p < 0.001). The score on the visual analog pain scale across these time points was an average of 3.6 points less (on a 10-point scale) for those who received the block. There were no infections, paresthesias, or other complications related to the femoral nerve block. CONCLUSIONS The acute pain of a diaphyseal or distal femoral fracture can be significantly decreased through the use of a femoral nerve block, which can be administered safely in the hospital emergency department.

Severe open tibial fractures: a study protocol.

A prospective randomized study of severe open tibial fractures (Type II and III) was performed. Individual fractures were randomized to treatment groups according to initial antibiotic therapy: One consisted of a first-generation cephalosporin, and the other consisted of a third-generation cephalosporin. Initial antibiotic therapy was given in all patients for 48 h and then specific antibiotic treatment was used as indicated by culture. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not additional gram-negative coverage had an effect on the overall infection rate or the type of infection in severe open tibial fractures. Additional factors, such as the timing of bone grafts and soft tissue coverage, were evaluated in this study as well. Although there was no statistical difference in the rate of infection with the use of a first-versus a third-generation cephalosporin, there was a trend toward a decreased infection rate as well as toward less morbid infections with the use of a third-generation cephalosporin. The study also confirms that early bone graft should not be performed prior to 6 weeks post injury or after successful soft tissue coverage has been achieved. On the other hand, soft tissue coverage procedures should be performed at the earliest possible date to decrease the overall infection rate.

Femoral Shaft Fracture Fixation and Chest Injury After Polytrauma

Thirty years ago, the standard of care for the multiply injured patient with fractures was placement of the fractured limb in a splint or skeletal traction, until the patient was considered stable enough to undergo surgery for fracture fixation1. This led to a number of complications2, such as adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), infection, pneumonia, malunion, nonunion, and death, particularly when the patient had a high Injury Severity Score (ISS)3. Retrospective studies showed that the incidence of fat embolism syndrome could be reduced with stabilization of long-bone fractures in a multiply injured patient. Riska et al. noted a decrease in fat embolism syndrome from 22% (twenty-one of ninety-five) with traction treatment to 1% (one of ninety-five) with early operative fracture stabilization4. This finding led to greater use of early surgical stabilization of femoral fractures in the multiply injured patient. Subsequent follow-up studies demonstrated decreases in mortality and morbidity with early surgical stabilization of long-bone fractures in the multiply injured patient5-9. Moreover, retrospective noncontrolled studies showed that the patients with the highest ISS or greatest number of injuries derived more benefit from surgical stabilization of a femoral fracture shortly after the injury than from treatment with skeletal traction for seven to ten days prior to operative femoral fixation. Border et al.5 and Johnson et al.6 showed a decrease in pulmonary failure, time on a ventilator, time in the intensive care unit, septic complications, and death with early surgical stabilization. Because of the lack of control of these retrospective studies, and skepticism by both general surgeons and orthopaedic surgeons about the importance of early fracture stabilization, one of us (L.B.B.) and others performed a prospective randomized study to compare femoral fractures treated within twenty-four hours after injury with …