Fracture of the tibial shafte is the most common fracture of the long bones and there is much controversy concerning the method of treatment because of many complications, such as non-union, delayed union and infection.
We reviewed and analyzed 68 tibial shaft fractures which had been treated at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chonbuk National university Hospital from January 1988 to December 1990. We divided the cases into three groups, plating, flexible
intramedullary and rigid intramedullary nailing, in order to determine the more adequate method of treatment of tibial shaft fracturs.
@ES The results were as follow:
@EN 1. In both groups, bone healing time was shorter in the patients under thirty years old and it was not affected by the fibular fracture, but all of the delayed and nonunions occured in the cases having concomitant fibular fracture.
2. The rate of fracture union was not affected by the flacture location and the worst prognosis among the fracture types was for segmental and comminuted fracture.
3. The average union time 15.1 weeks in the plating group, 13.6 weeks in the flexible intramedullary nailing group and 12.5 weeks in the rigid intramedullary nailing group.
4. The time tor achieving full range of motion and full weight bearing and fracture healing was less in the intramedullary nailing group.
5. We conclude that intramedullary nailing is a more suitable method for the treatment of the
tibial shaft fractures.
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