Diego Edwards1,2*, Zoy Anastasiadis1,2, Rodrigo Guiloff2a, Tamara Piderit1c, Sebastián Bettancourt2b, Sergio Arellano 1,2, Andrés Schmidt-Hebbel1,2 and Alex Vaisman1,2
1Knee Surgery Division, Hospital Padre Hurtado, Chile 2Knee Surgery Division, Clínica Alemana, Chile 2aOrthopaedic Surgeon, Knee Surgery Fellowship, Chile 2bOrthopaedic Surgery Resident, Chile 1cGeneral Practitioner, Chile
*Corresponding Author: Diego Edwards, Knee Surgery Division, Hospital Padre Hurtado, Chile and Knee Surgery Division, Clínica Alemana, Chile.
Received: July 22, 2022; Published: October 06, 2022
Introduction: Supracondylar femoral fractures (SCFF) are associated with high energy mechanisms in young patients and low energy in older adults. Surgical treatment is controversial since current clinical evidence does not recommend one surgical technique over another. The objective was to compare rates of implant failure (IF), local and systemic complications in extra-articular SCFF managed with dynamic condylar screw plate (DCS) versus retrograde nailing (RN).
Materials and Methods: Retrospective cohort. Surgical files were reviewed and included patients with SCFF, treated with DCS or RN between 2011-2015 in a center by the same surgical team. Demographic data, mechanism of injury and radiographic consolidation were assessed. The IF was defined as non-radiological consolidation after 9 months, the need for revision surgery or deep infection. The rate of implant failure and local and systemic complications were compared.
Results: 32 patients met the selection criteria. In the DCS group (14 patients), 64.2% of the fractures were caused by civilian gunshot injuries, the implant failure rate was 28.5% and 7.1% presented thromboembolic events. Of the RN group (18 patients), 72.2% of the fractures were caused by civilian gunshot injuries. The implant failure rate was 0% and 5.5% presented thromboembolic events. The implant failure rate with DCS was significantly higher, without differences in the rate of other complications.
Conclusions: The RN had a significantly lower failure rate than DCS in the treatment of SCFF fractures, with a similar rate of local and systemic complications.
Keywords: Extraarticular; Distal Femur Fracture; Implant Failure; Dynamic Condylar Screw; Retrograde Nailing; Gunshot Injuries
Citation: Diego Edwards., et al. “Supracondylar Femoral Fractures: Evaluation of Complications Between two Methods of Fixation (DCS Plate vs Retrograde Endomedullary Nail)". Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 5.11 (2022): 19-24.
Copyright: © 2022 Diego Edwards., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.