Complications of extramedullary osteosynthesis in patients with long bone fractures

Purpose: To analyze the complications of extramedullary osteosynthesis using bio-inert and bioactive constructs, and to develop their number reduction. Materials and Methods. The study included the cases of joint contractures, delayed unions and pseudoarthrosis formation, unions of fractures with gross deformities, plate break and shift, suppurations while treating 1265 patients of both genders, at the middle age of 37.1±6.5 years, with closed fractures of femur (n=440), tibia (n=532), and humerus (293). Type C fractures accounted for 44.7 %, those of type B - 29.2 %, those of type A - 26.1 %. Surgery in 672 patients performed using bio-inert plates (BIP), that in 593 patients - using bioactive ones (BAP) with calcium-phosphate (CP) coating. Results. When extramedullary osteosynthesis used suppuration complications developed in 1.2 % of the patients treated, unions with significant displacement observed in 2.1 % of them. Persistent contractures of joints observed most often. They accounted for 8.6 % of the cases in patients with BAP, and 15.8 % in those with BIP. Conclusion. The use of bioactive implants allowed reducing the level of unsatisfactory results twice. The use of plates with CP coating is advisable for type C fractures, as well as in patients through osteoporosis.