Diaphyseal Femoral Intramedullary Nailing: Closed or Open Intervention?

Background: Intramedullary nailing is the mainstay of treatment femoral shaft fractures. In this we tried to compare the results of open and closed nailing in the shaft of femur bone. Methods: In three years time 272 femoral shaft fractured patients were admitted out of which 162 were closed type and 110patients in whom open nailing was tried. The mean age of patients was 35.6 yrs. Statistical analysis was done by using student "t" test. Results: 246 patients healed within six months, while others required axial compression; complete union occurred in 95.6% of cases. Most common complication observed was limited range of mobility. Nonunion was observed more in open method, while closed method showed high rate of malunioin. Conclusions: We concluded our study with the fact that concept of alignment should be placed high & open nailing should be tried in those cases where adequate results cannot be achieved by closed methods.