Supracondylar fractures of the femur above total knee arthroplasties with cortical allograft struts.

Abstract

Ten supracondylar fractures of the femur above a total knee arthroplasty were treated with open reduction and internal fixation using a metal plate and cortical allograft struts. Failure with nonunion of previous operative treatments was seen in 5 patients. The other 5 patients had either severe osteopenia or comminution of the fracture above the knee prosthesis. At an average of 38 months' follow-up, all the fractures healed with an average union time of 17.6 weeks. The postoperative knee alignment averaged 5.1 degrees valgus. Infection occurred in 1 patient, which resulted in a poor outcome. The remaining 9 patients were functioning well at the most recent follow-up examination. The use of cortical allograft struts combined with a compression plate provided satisfactory results for supracondylar fractures above knee prostheses with severe osteopenia or loss of bone stock after initial failure of internal fixation.