Subtrochanteric femoral fractures treated with locked intramedullary nails. Experience from 31 cases

We treated 31 proximal femoral shaft fractures, where the trochanteric area was intact, with Grosse-Kempf locked intramedullary nails. There were 19 men and 12 women with a median age of 24 (14-79) years. Sixteen fractures were comminuted and 11 were a component of severe multiple injury. No infections or other serious complications occurred. All the fractures healed within 40 weeks, with 16 results graded as excellent, 7 as good, 7 as fair, and 1 as poor. Six fair results were due to difficulties in aligning the short proximal fragment. One patient with a fair and 1 with a poor result had excessive shortening of the femur. We conclude that locked intramedullary nailing is a good alternative in these fractures and that the static variant is preferable whenever the stability is uncertain.