[Infection following closed intramedullary nailing by Kuntscher's method in 1059 fractures]

This paper investigates the incidence of infection following Kuntscher intramedullary nailing of 1059 open or closed fractures treated between January 1967 and December 1980. The fractures comprised 503 of the tibia 440 of the femur and 116 of the humerus. The literature over the past 10 years demonstrates that infection following plating or nailing with open reduction is more frequent than after closed intramedullary nailing. This paper confirms that nailing with open reduction for tibial and femoral fractures increases the infection rate to 5.7% and 3.5% respectively. Closed intramedullary nailing by Kuntscher's method is considered to be sound treatment in a university service for the treatment of fractures of the shaft of the tibia, femur and humerus with an infection rate of less than 1% in closed fractures.