ANALYSIS OF FAILURES AND COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING TREATMENT OF DIAPHYSEAL FOREARM FRACTURES IN CHILDREN USING FLEXIBLE INTRAMEDULLARY NAILING

Abstract

Introduction. Currently flexible intramedullary nailing (FIN) is the method of choice for treatment of diaphyseal forearm fractures in children.Purpose of the study: to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of failures and complications encountered in treatment of children with diaphyseal forearm fractures using FIN fixation.Materials and methods. The study included 55 consecutive continuous cases of diaphyseal forearm fractures in children operated by FIN fixation from October 2011 till October 2014. Follow up period covered timeframe from admission until implant removal but no less than 6 months. The authors studied age, gender, fracture pattern, surgical technique features, length of hospital stay, frequency of outpatient examinations, healing period, x-ray data and all complications.Results. Complications during treatment were reported in 10 patients. Two patients demonstrated two complications. In two cases a surgical procedure was required to address the complications. Early postoperative complications were observed in two cases (neuropathy of superficial branch of radial nerve). In other cases patients developed complications at outpatient stage starting one to six months after the surgery which did not impact the final outcome.Conclusion. Despite various complications observed following FIN fixation of diaphyseal forearm fractures in children, their severity and frequency had no impact on the final outcome in the authors’ case series. Majority of issues were related to violations in surgical technique and adverse fracture pattern.

Keywords

• forearm fractures in children
• intramedullary internal fixation
• complications