Perioperative adverse events in distal femur fractures treated with intramedullary nail versus plate and screw fixation.

BACKGROUND

To compare 30-day outcomes in patients treated for a distal femur (DF) fracture with plate fixation (PF) or intramedullary nail (IMN).

METHODS

Differences in rates of any adverse events (AAE), serious adverse events (SAE), infectious complications, and mortality were explored between groups in the ACS-NSQIP database.

RESULTS

There were 511 PF and 44 IMN patients. The PF group and IMN groups had similar rates of AAEs (p = 0.35), SAEs (p = 0.46), infectious complications (p = 1.00), and mortality (p = 0.39).

CONCLUSIONS

DF fractures treated with IMN have equivalent short-term outcomes compared to those treated with PF.