"Unstable" Pediatric Femoral Shaft Fractures Treated With Flexible Elastic Nails Have Few Complications.

OBJECTIVES

To determine our complication rate in pediatric femoral shaft fractures treated with flexible elastic nailing and to determine fracture characteristics that may predict complications.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

One Level 1 and One Level 2 academic trauma centers.

PATIENTS/

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred one pediatric femoral shaft fractures treated from 2006 to 2018.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: Major and minor complications.

RESULTS

One hundred one femurs met inclusion criteria. The average age was 7 years (range 3-12 years). The average weight was 29.0 kg (range 16-55 kg). The average follow-up was 11 months (6-36 months). Ninety-three patients underwent elective implant removal at our institution. Fifty-one of the 101 (50%) fractures were "unstable" patterns. Ninety-three percent had implants that filled >80% of the canal (69 titanium and 32 stainless steel). Seventeen percent (18) had cast immobilization. All fractures went on to union. No patient required revision surgery for malunion as follows: 6 had coronal/sagittal malalignment >10 degrees, 3 had malrotation >15 degrees, and none had a leg length inequality >1 cm. Three patients had an unplanned surgery as follows: 2 for prominent implants and 1 for refracture after a second injury. There were no patient, fracture, or treatment characteristics that were predictive of complications or unplanned surgery, including "unstable" fractures (P = 0.78).

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrates that flexible elastic nailing can be safely used in most pediatric femoral shaft fractures, including those previously described as "unstable."

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.