Nails or plates for fracture of the distal femur?: data from the Victoria Orthopaedic Trauma Outcomes Registry

What is it about?

Statewide data showed that intramedullary nail fixation of distal femur fractures when compared with plate fixation produced a clinically relevant and significant difference in quality-of-life at 6 months. There was a weak trend that this continued to one year. There was decreased angular deformity using intramedullary nail.

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Why is it important?

Intramedullary nail fixation may be a superior treatment compared with anatomical locking plates for fractures of the distal femur. These findings are concordant with other data from pilot randomised studies which favour treatment of these fractures with an intramedullary nail. This study strongly supports the need for a definitive randomised trial.