J Korean Fract Soc.  1995 Jul;8(3):488-496.

Treatment of Ipsilateral Fracture of the Femur and Tibia("Floating Knee")

• Hahn SB
• Koh GH

Abstract

Concomitant ipsilateral femoral and tibial fractures present a challenging therapeutic problem. They are generally caused by high-energy trauma, primarily motor-vehicle accidents, and the local trauma to the soft tissue is often extensive. We retrospectively reviewed 48 cases of the ipsilateral fracture of femur and tibia from March 1983 to March 1993 and analyzed the clinical and functional results. The results were as follows. 1. The most common site of fracture was middle one-third and the most common type of the fracture was comminuted in both femur and tibia. 2. The most common associated injury was concomitant fracture and dislocation of other sites(28 cases) and fat embolism was developed in 4 cases and compartment syndrome was developed in 3 cases. 3. Satisfactory reults were achieved in 72% of the patients treated with internal fixation of both fracture, 63% of the patient with internal fixation for the femur and 43% of the patients managed conseuatively.

Keyword

Femur and Tibia; Ipsilateral Fracture; Floating Knee

MeSH Terms

Compartment Syndromes
Dislocations
Embolism, Fat
Femur*
Humans
Retrospective Studies
Tibia
Tibial Fractures