Abstract
The fractures of the distal femur are difficult to treat due to its severity of injuries and various complications. Recently, the complications including nonunion, delayed union and joint stiffness have decreased with development of new fixation device, technics and encouraging the early joint motion. We studied 50 cases of fractures treated at our hospital from January, 1980 to July, 1988 and the results obtained from this study were as follows:1. The age distribution was between 11 and 77 year-old, and the 3rd. 4th. decades were 64 % of total patients. 2. The most common cause of injuries was traffic accident(62%), and the open fractures were more common than the fractures of other reports(48%). 3. The types of fracture were unicondylar(21 cases), simple supracondylar(8), and intercondylar (21), according to Chiron's classification, and the intercondylar fractures were subdivided into type I (2 cases), type II A(6), type II B(10) and type III (3) by Neer's. 4. Among the 50 cases, the conservative treatments were done in 19 cases and the surgical one in 31 cases. The conservative treatments were done for undisplaced or minimal displsced fractures and the cases whose general conditions were so poor that operation were impossible. 5. In surgical treatments, the open reduction and the internal fixation(25 cases), the externsl fixation(4), the knee fusion(1) and the A-K amputation(1) were done. 6. The postoperative complications were joint stiffness(11 cases), malunion(3), delayed union(3) and infection(3). 7. The satisfactory results could be obtained by the open reduction and rigid internal fixation followed by early continous passive motion exercise of knee joint.