A Study on Change in ESR among Patients Undergoing Reamed Intramedullary Nailing At a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

An erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a type of blood test that measures how quickly erythrocytes (red blood cells) settle at the bottom of a test tube that contains a blood sample. Normally, red blood cells settle relatively slowly. A faster-than-normal rate may indicate inflammation in the body. Forty patients (32 males; 8 females; mean age, 43.1 (range, 20–97) years) who sustained isolated closed diaphyseal fracture of the femur or the tibia remained in the study group. All femoral fractures and tibial fractures were treated with an interlocking nail, with reamed technique. ESR in the study group was high during the preoperative period (average values of 42.8; P = 0.001), whereas there was a sharp rise to 66.8 (average value) postoperatively (P, 0.001), reaching the peak on the 3rd postoperative day (average value, 82.7; P, 0.001 in comparison to the preoperative mean value). ESR mean value returned near to POD 1 on the tenth postoperative day (65.5).