Novel venting technique for intramedullary rod fixation of pathologic fractures.

This article introduces a novel technique to vent the femur and potentially decrease the embolic load created by reaming during intramedullary rod fixation of impending pathologic femur fractures. We used readily available operating room equipment to create a distal femoral vent hole without interfering with standard intramedullary instrumentation and with minimal increase in surgical time. This technique can be used for the prophylactic intramedullary stabilization of impending pathologic femur fractures from metabolic bone disease, metastatic cancer, and bisphosphonate use.