Study on outcomes of fractures of distal femur

Abstract

Introduction- Open distal femur fractures are rare, complex injuries which occur in polytrauma patients and are complicated by bone loss, contamination, compromised soft tissues and poor host condition. The study intends to evaluate patients treated for open fractures of distal end of the femur using the staged protocol of early external fixation with debridement followed by definitive fixation with an anatomical locking plate and bone grafting at a later stage. Method- The study included a group of 20 patients of open distal femur fractures who were operated with temporary external fixator and later on converted to definitive fixation with condylar locking plate with bone grafting. These patients were operated with our staged protocol and clinical outcome was evaluated using the functional evaluation scoring system by Sander’s et al and Knee Society Scoring. Out of these 20 patients, 1 was lost to follow up at 3 months and 2 others were lost to follow up at 6 months. These 3 were excluded from our study. Results- Fracture union was seen in all 17 patients. The average time to union was 22.65+3.3 weeks. Two patients were complicated with infection and delayed union.