Abstract
We studied 39 patients with distal tibial shaft fracture. Seventeen fractures(10 closed
fractures and 7 open fractures: 5 type-I and 2 type II fractures, according to the classification of
Gustilo et al.) were treated with interlocking nail, and 22 fractures(19 closed and 3 open
fractures: 1 type I and 2 type II fractures) were treated with anatomical plate.
The clinical results were analyzed according to treatment modality. All of the patients were
followed up for more than 1 year. The average time to union was 18.1 weeks in the patients
treated with interlocking nail and 23.7 weeks in the patients treated with anatomical plate. In the
functional outcome(according to Klemm and Borner), twelve patients(70.6%) treated with
interlocking nail showed excellent results and 10 patients(45.5%) treated with anatomical plate
had excellent results.
We concluded that more satisfactory results could be obtained with interlocking nail
compared with anatomical plate in the treatment of the distal tibial fracture.