A study to evaluate importance of length from tip of olecranon to the tip of little finger in pre-operative assessment of K-nail in fracture shaft of femur in a tertiary care hospital of Bareilly district

Authors

  • Gaurav Singh Department of Orthopedics, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
  • Ajit Singh Department of Orthopedics, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
  • Deepak Upadhyay Department of Community Medicine, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-2902.isj20161149

Keywords:

Bone nails, Femoral fractures, Forearm, Fracture fixation, Intramedullary

Abstract

Background:The magnitude of incidence of femoral shaft fracture is approximately 15-20 fractures per 1,00,000 person years. Most commonly intramedullary nailing is preferred for adult femoral shaft fracture. The objective of this study was to assess the intra-medullary femoral nail length in adults by various methods in fracture shaft of femur and to access correlation between these lengths.

Methods: Study was conducted on 100 adult healthy volunteers including 41 males and 59 females attending the orthopaedic O.P.D of a tertiary medical college in North India. The length from tip of olecranon to the tip of little finger and the length from tip of the greater trochanter to the upper pole of patella of the same side were measured using a measuring tape on a couch.

Results:Analysis showed that the mean length from tip of olecranon to the tip of little finger and the length from tip of the greater trochanter to the upper pole of patella of the same side were 42.175 (SD, 2.0641) and 42.093 (SD, 2.0846) respectively. The mean difference between these two measurements was 0.083 (95% CI, 0.020 to 0.145). The significant correlation was found between these 2 lengths i.e. 0.987 by Pearson co-relation (95% CI, 0.977 to 0.994) (p<0.001). Age, sex and body mass index did not affect this correlation.

Conclusions:The length from the tip of the olecranon to the tip of the little finger correlated with the femoral length and is more convenient to perform and can also be used when the patient has sustained bilateral fractures of femur.

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Published

2016-12-08

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Section

Original Research Articles