The reamer won't come out! An unusual complication of intramedullary nailing of femur fracture

Abstract

Introduction: Intramedullary nailing has become the gold standard in surgical treatment for long bones shaft fractures. Even in expert hands, many intraoperative complications may occur. Clinical case: We report an unusual complication of trapped bone fragments between the reamer and the cortex during intramedullary nailing of a simple femur shaft fracture. All Attempts to withdraw the reamer were unsuccessful. The fragment had to be removed through an open incision.This complication was probably caused by a migrated chip of cortical bone fragment from the inner cortex which caused incarceration of the reamer. Conclusion: If a loose intramedullary fragment is noted during reaming or nailing, it must absolutely not be ignored.

Keywords

• Intramedullary nailing
• Incarceration
• Complication