[Closed tibial fracture--reamed or unreamed intramedullary nailing. A clinical study]

When comparing the unreamed tibial nail (UTN) with the external fixator in the treatment of open tibial fractures the UTN has shown advantages. Whether we can find these advantages also in the treatment of closed tibial fractures using the UTN instead of a reamed system should be clarified in the following study. We compared 35 UTN treated patients with 35 patients that were treated with a reamed A0-universal tibial nail. Both groups showed no differences in age, sex, etiology and severity of trauma. The fractures were classified by the A0-classification of fractures and the soft tissue damage by the classification of Tscherne and Oestern. The length of mean hospital stay, the time of partial weight bearing and the duration of fracture healing, were shorter using the UTN. 5 of 9 complications using the UTN were immanent to the system (deformation of the locking screws). The other complications were 2 axis shifts, 1 compartment syndrome and 1 pseudarthrosis. The other group showed 1 hematoma, 1 axis shift, 1 compartment syndrome, 2 thromboembolic complications, 2 infections and 3 cases of pseudarthrosis. We think that there is an advantage to use an UTN instead of a reamed nailing system in treatment of closed tibial fractures.