What are the treatments for femoral fractures?

Under normal circumstances, the femur is not prone to fracture, so most fractures are femoral shaft fractures, which are mostly caused by car accidents or falls from high places. Femoral shaft fractures are often associated with hemorrhagic shock. Also, if a fracture occurs, you generally need to go to the hospital for treatment so as not to delay the best treatment time. There are still many methods for treating femoral fractures in our country, but surgical treatment is still relatively common because it is convenient and effective. Here we will tell you some knowledge about surgical treatment of femoral fractures for you to learn.

Surgical method

1. Indications for surgery: In recent years, due to the improvement of surgical techniques and medical devices, the indications for surgery have been relaxed. Specific surgical indications include:

(1) Traction failure.

(2) Soft tissue embedment: The fracture ends do not touch or cannot maintain alignment, and there is no bone friction sound during examination.

(3) If there is combined injury to important nerves or blood vessels and surgical exploration is required, open reduction and internal fixation can be performed simultaneously.

(4) Fractures that are malheurized or nonhealed.

2. Common surgical methods

(1) Fractures of the upper third or middle upper third of the femur are usually fixed with intramedullary nails. This method has the advantages of no need for external fixation and early ambulation after surgery. The open method of inserting intramedullary nails in the past has been replaced by a closed method of inserting needles under the control of X-ray television (XTV) in the past decade, which only makes a small incision at the needle insertion site and does not expose the fracture end. The closed method causes less damage and bleeding than the open method, does not disrupt the blood supply to the fracture ends, and is conducive to fracture healing.

(2) For fractures of the middle third or middle and lower third of the femur, the traditional method is to use 6-8 hole plate screw fixation and hip spica plaster fixation. At present, pressurized steel plates are mostly used for activities. There are many types of compression plates. The compression plate fixation using a pressurizer began to be used in the 1960s, and then the self-compression plate fixation appeared and is still used today. Regarding femoral shaft fracture surgery and the selection of internal fixation materials, the indications must be carefully understood and they must not be abused. We must strive for a successful operation and prevent infection and nonunion of fractures.

3. For the treatment of malunion or nonunion of old fractures, open reduction should be performed, appropriate internal fixation should be selected, and routine bone grafting should be performed to facilitate fracture healing.

4. For the treatment of fractures caused by firearm injuries, initial surgical operations should be performed as soon as possible, according to the principles of firearm injury treatment, and the patient should be sent to the rear hospital for treatment.

If a fracture occurs, the patient's posture must be maintained, otherwise movement will be more dangerous.