Affiliations 

  • 1 M H Kamal, MD. Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • 2 M Razak, MS (Ortho). Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • 3 S Ibrahim, MS (Ortho). Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • 4 A Lim, FRCS. Loh Guan Lye Hospital, Penang
Med J Malaysia, 2000 Sep;55 Suppl C:68-73.
PMID: 11200047

Abstract

This is a prospective study to look at the outcome of unilateral proximal third femoral shaft fractures in children treated with a bilateral Thomas splint in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia between the period of January 1996 and June 1998. Eighteen children aged between 2 years and 12 years old with unilateral proximal third fractures of the femoral shaft were treated using a bilateral Thomas splint. Angular deformities were measured using a goniometer metric scale before and after Thomas splints. The percentage of varus tilt corrected ranged from 17% to 72% with an average correction of 29% from the initial deformity and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The percentage of posterior tilt corrected ranged from 19% to 60% with the average correction of 20% from the initial deformity. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). From this study, we conclude that bilateral Thomas splints can give a better correction of angular deformity for proximal third femoral shaft fractures in children below twelve years of age.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.