EARLY PREDICTORS OF NON-UNION OF DIAPHYSEAL TIBIAL FRACTURES BASED ON SCORING SYSTEMS.

INTRODUCTION

The lack of standardization in the assessment of healing potential of diaphyseal tibial fractures in the early stages of treatment leads to late diagnosis of non-union, which requires the development of prognostic diagnostic criteria that take into account possible risk factors.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze and evaluate the available scoring systems for predicting union and non-union of diaphyseal tibial fractures.

METHODS

We searched for publications in Scopus (Elsevier), PubMed, Publons, Medline, RSCI, Google, and Google Scholar databases.

RESULTS

Six systems for predicting the risk of non-union of tibial fractures were analyzed, 4 of which included clinical and surgical risk factors for non-union. The advantage of the scoring systems is the identification of interventional thresholds for early detection of non-union.

CONCLUSIONS

The Radiographic Union Scale for Tibia (RUST), the Tibia FRACTure prediction healING (FRACTING), the Leeds-Genoa Non-Union Index (LEG-NUT), and the Non-Union Scoring System (NUSS) are the most researched and recommended for clinical use. The Non-union Determination Score (NURD) and Tibial Fracture Healing Score (TFHS) systems require further evaluation.