Authors: Ekure John, Akellot Daniella, Amuron Naomi.
Background: The SIGN (Surgical Implant Generation Network) intramedullary nail is commonly used to treat fractures of long bones i.e.; femur, tibia and humerus. This study was undertaken to evaluate the short-term outcomes of treatment of open fracture of long bone using SIGN nail at Kumi Orthopaedic Center, Uganda.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 564 surgical cases of patients who had been treated with SIGN nail at Kumi Orthopaedic Center using the SIGN Online Surgical Database (SOSD) from 2010 to March 2018. We extracted data on patients who had been treated with SIGN nail for open fractures of long bones with at least one follow-up. Extracted data was analyzed using SPSS and prevalence was calculated as the percentage of cases with open fractures of long bones divided by the total number cases treated using SIGN nail at Kumi Orthopaedic Center.
Results: A total of 55 open fractures of long bones were extracted from the SOSD. 35 cases met the inclusion criteria for this study. Prevalence of long bone open fractures was 9.4%. 74.3% of these cases were male while 25.7% were female. Their mean age was 34.7 years. 60% of the open fractures were Gustilo IIIa, 14.3% were Gustilo I, 14.3% were Gustilo II while 11.4% were Gustilo III. The mostly affected bone was the tibia at 51.4% with the femur taking up 48.6%. Mean time of skin closure was 11.5 days. 88.6% had no infection while 11.4% contracted infections. 2.9% of the cases resulted in non-union. 85.7% of the cases had knee flexion greater than 90 degrees whereas 14.3% could not flex the affected knees beyond 90 degrees. There were no deformities in 100% of the cases.
Conclusion: Treating open fractures of long bones using SIGN nail has relatively good short-term outcomes.
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