Long-term Comparison of Retrograde and Antegrade Femoral Nailing

Antegrade or retrograde nailing for femoral shaft fractures remains the gold standard,but long-term data on functional outcomes after intramedullary nailing are lacking. In a retrospective review of prospectively collected patient registry data, patients with an isolated femoral shaft fracture treated with antegrade or retro-gradefemoral nailing from 1997 to 2012 were interviewed and their medical records analyzed. Functional reported outcome data were obtained via the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) at 5 to 17 years postoperatively. Antegrade and retrograde intramedullary nailing of diaphyseal femur shaft fractures demonstrated a mean WOMAC of 23.5%+/- 23.6% (range, 0%-82.3%) and 29.7%+/- 24.0% (range, 0%-88%), respectively (P=.23). The mean VAS scores of the antegrade vs retrograde intramedullary nailing groups were 2.5 +/- 2.6 (range, 0-8) and 3.4 +/- 2.8 (range, 0-10), respectively (P=.11). Location of pain differed between groups as well, with the antegrade group noting an increased rate of hip pain (25.6% vs 7.0%, P=.01), but a nonsignificant difference in the rate of thigh pain (27.9% vs 15.5%, P=.15) and knee pain (18.6% vs 26.7%, P=.49) as compared with the retrograde group. Diaphyseal femur fractures are successfully treated with either antegrade or retrograde intramedullary nails without significantly differing long-term functional outcomes, which correlates with other reported findings in the literature at short-term follow-up.