Surgical management of fracture shaft of femur in children aged between 5 to 16 years using elastic stable intramedullary nailing

Abstract

Femoral shaft fractures including subtrochanteric and supracondylar fractures, represent approximately 1.6% of all bony injuries in children. Most fractures in children are the result of high velocity accidents. Most of the injuries in children were due to fall from swings on a play ground. More recently a variety of therapeutic alternatives such as external fixation, compression plating and flexible or locked intramedullary nailing have become available, to help decrease impairment, increase convenience and decrease the cost of treatment. In this study 20 patients aged between 5 to16 years, with fracture shaft of femur were treated with flexible intramedullary nail. Upon evaluation by the FLYNN criteria, we had 45% (n=9) excellent results, 40% (n=8) of successful results and 15% (n=3) of poor results.