Prospective Study of Submuscular Plating For Diaphyseal Long Bone Fractures in Paediatric Age

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate long term results of submuscular plating in closed paediatric femur fractures.

Methods: This prospective study was carried out in the department of Orthopaedics at Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India from july 2019 to jan 2020. Total 70 cases with closed femoral shaft fractures with age between 8 years to 16 years were included in the study.

Results: Total 70 patients with 40 boys and 30 girls were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 13 years (range=8-16 years). 42 patients were with right femur fracture and 28 with left femur fracture. All the patients had unilateral femur fracture. 46 patients were having isolated femur fracture and 24 were cases of polytrauma. 61 out of 70 patients regularly followed up during the full duration of the study. The average follow up duration was 20-24 months. 26 fractures were comminuted, 19 were spiral, 15 were oblique and 10 were transverse.

Conclusion: Submuscular plating is a surgical method with a learning curve and is a very effective method of fixation for paediatric femur fractures. It has definitive advantages over other surgical methods and is associated with minimal complications.

Keywords: fracture, femur, submuscular plating.