A newly designed intramedullary nail with distal interlocking system for tibia fractures in adults - the clinical results

Abstract

The surgical treatment of fractures of the tibia includes reamed and unreamed options. Reamed nails have mechanical advantages but they significantly harm the endosteal circulation. Unreamed nails spare the endosteal circulation, but provide a less stable fixation. In both systems, immediate full weight-bearing is not possible due to instability related to distal interlocking (DI). Further, DI is responsible for the majority of the fluoroscopy requirement and a significant loss of surgical time. In our study, we present the clinical results of a new intramedullary (IM) nail and system, which allows stable fixation with an unreamed technique that permits immediate full weight-bearing, with a minimum fluoroscopy requirement for DI. Fifty tibia fractures (49 patients) operated using our new IM system between 2008 and 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. They were allowed full weight-bearing the day after surgery. The patients were followed at least 10 months postoperatively. Mean fluoroscopy time was 18 seconds (min: 10, max: 30) for DI. Mean union time was 9 weeks (min: 6, max: 12). There was no neurovascular injury, deep infection, malunion, delayed union, or nonunion. We demonstrated that our newly developed IM nail and new DI system may be an option to solve the stability problems sourced from the DI screw. It also significantly decreases the requirement of fluoroscopy.