A novel intramedullary nail for use in the treatment of supramalleolar malunion and nonunion: A preliminary report of three cases

Abstract

Introduction: The fractures around the supramalleolar region are difŞcult to manage and deformitiesmay occur following insufŞcient or inadequate treatment attempts. The treatment of those deformities iseven more challenging. The available options for surgicalŞxation have inherent problems consideringthe soft tissue problems, infection and compliance of the patients. In this study, we report the preliminary outcome of new IMN system in use of supramalleolar deformities.Patients and Methods: Three patients with supramalleolar deformities were recruited for this study. Twopatients had periarticular distal tibia malunions and one patient had nonunion in same region. All patients were operated with using newly designed intramedullary nail system with a unique distalinterlocking bolt screw. The outcome for each patient was followed-up and evaluated with using AOFASscore.Results: The patients were followed up for 3 years, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. The AOFASscores were 36, 33, and 21 preoperatively; and 75, 68, and 75 postoperatively in Patients 1, 2 and 3,respectively.Conclusion: In our patient series, adequateŞxation following correction of the deformity was seen.Although the number of the cases are limited this study provides encouraging results regarding theoutcome of new IMN system in use of supramalleolar deformities.© 2016 Turkish Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This isan open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).