Published in:
01-10-2007 | Original Paper
Perkins traction for adult femoral shaft fractures: a report on 53 patients in Sierra Leone
Authors:
Richard Gosselin, Daniel Lavaly
Published in:
International Orthopaedics
|
Issue 5/2007
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Abstract
A retrospective study of 53 consecutive adult patients with 54 femoral shaft fractures treated with Perkins traction over a 25-month period was carried out. Mean length of stay was 52.1 days (range 25–108), and mean duration of traction was 45.0 days (range 23–66). At a mean follow-up of 4.6 months (range 3–9), 50 (92.6%) had healed and 5 (9.3%) had a malunion. There were 4 (7.4%) non-unions, 3 (5.5%) had shortening of more than 2.5 cm and 2 (3.7%) had a re-fracture. The rate of pin tract infection was very high at 42.6% (23 patients).