Management of Tibia Shaft Fractures Using Unreamed Locked Intramedullary Nails: Our Experience from Jos, North Central, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The tibia is the most commonly fractured bone in the body and majority of the fractures occur among the most economically productive age group of the populace. The hallmark of treatment of this fracture is locked intramedullary nailing. Patient and methods: The study design was retrospective descriptive, done over a one year period on all consecutive patients who sustained tibia shaft fractures and were managed by unreamed locked intramedullary nailing. Result: Eighteen tibia shaft fractures in eleven males and seven females with an age range of 19-67years were studied. The causes of injuries were: vehicular road traffic accidents (12 patients), motor cycle accidents (2 patients), bomb blast (2 patients), sporting injury (1 patient) and gunshot (1 patient). The duration of the fractures before treatment ranged between 12hours to 2weeeks mean of 5.1days (±4.09). 9mm nails were inserted in 10 fractures, 8mm in 3 fractures and 10mm in 5 fractures. The outcome using the modified Keterjinar criteria showed that it was good in 15 patients, moderate in 2 patients and poor in 1 patient. Conclusion: Unreamed nailing through results in the insertion of smaller less snuggly fitting nail was associated with a satisfactory outcome