Internal fixator "Mitkovic" in the treatment of fractures of femoral shaft: A possible solution for fractures in heavier children and adolescents

Abstract

Back ground: Man age ment of fem o ral shaft fractures in older and heavier chil dren and ad o lescents is still chal leng ing and con tro ver sial and includes sev eral mo dal i ties of fix a tion. Aim of this study was to an a lyze sin gle cen ter ex pe ri ence in ap pli ca tion of selfdynamisable in ter nal fixator Mitkovic (SIF) for the treat ment of frac tures of fem o ral shaft in chil dren and ad o les cents. Methods: Ret ro spec tive anal y sis of data of pe di at ric and ad o les cent pa tients treated for diaphyseal frac ture in sin gle cen ter has been con ducted. Re sults: Eleven patients, with 12 fem o ral shaft frac tures were treated in ten-year-pe riod with in ter nal fixator "Mitkovic". Time to frac ture heal ing ranged from 4-12 weeks (aver age 8.9 weeks). All frac tures healed with out com plica tions. No ro ta tional or an gu lar mall-align ment was no ticed. No ex ter nal cast im mo bi li za tion was ap plied in any pa tient. Con clu sion: Selfdynamisable in ter nal fixator Mitkovic may be con sid ered as vi a ble op tion for treat ment of fem o ral frac tures in older/heavier chil dren and ad o les cents par tic u larly with un sta ble frac ture pat terns.