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German Congress of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (DKOU 2015)

20.10. - 23.10.2015, Berlin

Risk factors of refracture and morbidity during removal of titanium pediatric proximal femoral locking plates in children with cerebral palsy

Meeting Abstract

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  • presenting/speaker Muharrem Inan - Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Ilker Abdullah Sarikaya - Children Orthopedics Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Ali Seker - Medipol University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

Deutscher Kongress für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (DKOU 2015). Berlin, 20.-23.10.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. DocIN30-1315

doi: 10.3205/15dkou029, urn:nbn:de:0183-15dkou0291

Published: October 5, 2015

© 2015 Inan et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Objectives: Pediatric proximal femoral locking plates (PFLPs) are widely used when performing proximal femoral osteotomy in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study is to report the difficulties and risk factors of titanium PFLPs removal in CP.

Methods: PFLP removal was performed in 58 hips of 33 patients (17 males, 16 females). The mean age at the time of surgery was 10.9 (range 5.7-9.2) years. The patients were divided into two groups as group 1 and 2, if any difficulty was observed during surgery or not.

Results and Conclusion: Difficulty was not detected in 42 (72.4%) hips (Group 1). Difficulties were encountered in 16 (27.6%) hips (Group 2). A total of 364 screws were used (259 in group 1, 105 in group 2). The mean plate screw density ratios were 0.88 in group 1 and 0.94 in group 2. The difference between group 1 and 2 was statistically significant. The mean duration between the insertion and removal of the PFLP was 14.9 months (11.9 in group 1, 22.7 in group 2). The difference between group 1 and 2 was statistically significant. The screw heads were cut and the shafts were left in the bone in four hips (four screws); two of these four screws were two cortices head screws. Therefore, cortices head screw application can be accepted as a handicap for screw removal.

As a conclusion, this study suggested that difficulty in titanium PFLP removal in CP is common and PFLP removal is not a harmless procedure. A longer time from internal fixation to removal, increased plate screw density ratio, and cortices head screw application are risk factors for difficulties in titanium PFLP removal in CP.