Reamed Versus Unreamed Intertrochanteric Femur Fractures, Is It Time?

This study compares the intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of the traditional technique of femoral canal reaming to placement of an unreamed 10-mm nail. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Academic Level I Trauma Center, Southeastern US. Patients/Participants: Intertrochanteric femur fractures treated with a CMN (January 2016–December 2018) were retrospectively identified. Inclusion criteria were as follows: low-energy mechanism, at least 60 years of age, and long CMN. Exclusion criteria were as follows: short CMN, polytrauma, and subtrochanteric fractures. Outcome Measurements: Records were reviewed for demographics, hematologic markers, transfusion rates, operative times, and postoperative complications. Variables were assessed with a χ2 or Student T-test. Significance was set at 0.05. Results: Sixty-five patients were included (37 reamed and 28 unreamed), with a mean age of 76.2 years and mean body mass index of 25.1. Between the reamed and unreamed groups, respectively, mean nail size was 11.0 (SD 1.1) and 10.0 (SD 0.0), P
Source: Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Original Article Source Type: research