Femur Shaft Fracture in a Polio Patient

Although poliomyelitis is on the verge of eradication, the survivors of this disease are still living with its complications. Polio survivors with its musculoskeletal complications will continue to be a part of our population for many more decades'. Although poliomyelitis in itself is not common today, fractures in polio affected patients' limbs are a common entity and are difficult to manage with common fracture management protocols.

This study presenting a case of 58-year-old male with alleged history of twisting of the right lower limb while walking. X-rays suggested fracture right shaft femur. Patient had a history of poliomyelitis with the right lower limb affection and had a fixed flexion deformity of 15° at the right knee joint. The patient had to undergo two surgeries. In the first procedure, distal femur plating was done through lateral approach. Due to radiological signs of non-union, in the next procedure, additional medial plate was added and bone grafting was done to ensure stable fixation and union.

Treating a fracture in a polio affected limb is a challenging task taking into consideration the previous bony deformity as well as the myopathy. Knowledge of treating these fractures as well as pre-operative planning is important to a trauma surgeon as such scenarios are not very rare.