Sylvanus Olympio Teaching Hospital Research Articles

Elastic stable intramedullary nailing of femoral shaft fractures in children: Particularities and results at Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital of Lomé, Togo

The elastic stable intramedullary nailing (ESIN) presently seems the best technique in the surgical treatment of femoral shaft fractures (FSF) in >6-year-old children. We hereby report technical difficulties and therapeutic results after our first 8 years of experience. It's a retrospective study over a period of 8 years from January 2005 to December 2012 in the Paediatric Surgery Department of Sylvanus Olympio Teaching Hospital of Lomé. Indications, technical particularities and results were studied. There were 32 patients, 17 were boys and 15 were girls, with a mean age of 11 years old. The mean time to surgery was 21 days (range: 14 and 51 days). A callus was always removed before reduction. The osteosynthesis was stable in 22 cases, but in 10 others, it had been completed with a cast immobilisation. The operation needed a blood transfusion in 18 cases. With a mean follow-up of 3.5 years, the results were excellent in 29 patients (90.63%) and good in 3 patients (9.37%). Although undertaking an ESIN can be difficult, due to the lack of adequate equipment the procedure produces satisfactory outcome.