Is Distal Femur Locking Plate a Superior Implant in Distal Femur Fracture?

In spite of advances in techniques and improvements in surgical implants, confusion still prevails regarding use of specific implants in distal femur fracture. Fractures in the distal femur have posed considerable therapeutic challenges throughout the history of fracture treatment. Most of these surgical failures were due to inadequate fixation of the fracture fragments. The Aim of the study is to determine whether distal femur locking plates are superior implants than dynamic condylar screw and distal femur nail. A prospective and observational study was done in Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Sri Ramachandra Medical Collage, Chennai between Jan. 2011 and Jan. 2015. Patients with distal femoral fractures, admitted into the hospital, were treated using various modes of internal fixation and followed up over a period of six months to one year and their functional outcome was evaluated. The functional and radiological assessment of patients during follow-up was done using Neer’s criteria. The use of any one of the implant, i.e. distal femur locking plates, dynamic condylar screw or distal femur nailing for internal fixation, depends on the type of fracture and the pre operative planning and intra operate decision of the surgeon. In our study, 38% of fractures treated by Dynamic condylar screw, 72% of fractures treated by distal femur locking plate and 42% of fractures treated by Distal femur supracondylar nail had excellent/satisfactory results. Locking plates had better outcome in both extra-articular and intra-articular group. They also had better outcome in both younger and older age groups.