J Korean Fract Soc.  1999 Jul;12(3):632-637.

Comparative Analysis of Interlocking Nail and Anatomical Plate in the Treatment of Distal Tibial Fracture

• Im GI
• Kim DY
• Shin JH
• Youn KS
• Cho WH

Abstract

We studied 39 patients with distal tibial shaft fracture. Seventeen fractures(10 closed fractures and 7 open fractures: 5 type-I and 2 type II fractures, according to the classification of Gustilo et al.) were treated with interlocking nail, and 22 fractures(19 closed and 3 open fractures: 1 type I and 2 type II fractures) were treated with anatomical plate. The clinical results were analyzed according to treatment modality. All of the patients were followed up for more than 1 year. The average time to union was 18.1 weeks in the patients treated with interlocking nail and 23.7 weeks in the patients treated with anatomical plate. In the functional outcome(according to Klemm and Borner), twelve patients(70.6%) treated with interlocking nail showed excellent results and 10 patients(45.5%) treated with anatomical plate had excellent results. We concluded that more satisfactory results could be obtained with interlocking nail compared with anatomical plate in the treatment of the distal tibial fracture.

Keyword

Distal Tibial Fracture; Interlocking Nail; Anatomical Plate

MeSH Terms

Classification
Fractures, Closed
Fractures, Open
Humans
Tibial Fractures*