Case report: migration of a broken screw to the knee joint after hardware failure following closing wedge distal femoral osteotomy

Abstract

BackgroundWe report a case of hardware failure after distal femoral osteotomy (DFO) with a broken screw pulled out from the locking hole and positioned within the knee joint.Case presentationA 57-year-old man presented to our orthopedic outpatient department with 3-months history of an unusual painful swelling at the operated area following DFO. The leakage of joint fluid from the penetrated suprapatellar pouch was assumed to be the reason for this complication.ConclusionsThe overall aim of this case report is to provide a lesson to budding surgeons who might experience a similar situation that cannot be easily explained, like the unexpected complication in the present case.

A systematic approach to managing complications after proximal tibial osteotomies of the knee

“…An example is plate insufficiency when the “D‐hole” of the T‐shaped Tomofix plate is not used. This leads to high load concentration on the plate in this area and, at the end, can cause fatigue and breakage of the material [36] (Fig. 5).…”