Functional outcomes of periprosthetic and non-periprosthetic distal femur fractures: a comparative study

Year 2023, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 476 - 480, 27.03.2023

Yılmaz Ergişi , Mesut Tıkman , Selçuk Korkmazer , Halil Kekeç , Erdi Özdemir , Muhammed Nadir Yalçın

https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.1231671

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of locked plating in closed distal femur periprosthetic, and non-periprosthetic fractures. We hypothesized that the outcomes would be superior in the non-periprosthetic distal femur fracture group.
Material and Method: Patients who underwent surgery for distal femur fractures between January 2019 and January 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients aged under 18 years, who had multiple fractures, pathological fractures, follow-up less than 6 months, previous history of revision knee arthroplasty, interprosthetic fractures between hip and knee arthroplasties, fixation performed other than distal locking femoral plate and intra-operative periprosthetic fractures were excluded. Patients’ age, gender, laterality, length of hospital stay, and follow-up duration were obtained from hospital registry notes. Fractures were classified using the AO classification system. At the last follow-up, visual analogue scale (VAS), Tegner activity score, Lysholm knee score, and short form 36 (SF-36) scores were noted.
Results: A total of 30 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. There were 14 patients in the non-periprosthetic fracture group and 16 patients in the periprosthetic fracture group. The periprosthetic group had significantly lower mean VAS score (p=0.047), Tegner activity score (p=0.015), and Lysholm knee score (p=0.034) than the non-periprosthetic group. The periprosthetic fracture group had significantly inferior quality of life scores compared to non-periprosthetic groups based on SF-36 sub-parameters.
Conclusion: Periprosthetic distal femoral fractures have inferior clinical outcomes and quality of life than non-periprosthetic fractures despite having similar fracture healing rate. Orthopaedic surgeons should be aware of the frailty of the patients caused by prior total knee arthroplasty surgery.

Keywords

Distal femur fracture, Periprosthetic fracture, Total knee arthroplasty, Locking plate fixation, nonunion

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