Fracture supracondylar femur treated with various modalities of treatment-an exploratory study

Background: Present study looked at functional outcomes and rate of complications in cases of adult supracondylar-intercondylar femur fractures treated with different treatment modalities at a tertiary care government hospital.Methods: The study was conducted over 2 years wherein 23 patients with fracture in intercondylar-supracondylar region were included. The different implants and surgical techniques used in the study were: Condylar blade plate, dynamic condylar screw (DCS) with side plate, buttress plate single, supracondylar nail technique and TARPO technique. Neer’s criteria was used to compare functional outcome with different modalities of treatment.Results: Eight out of 11 patients treated using DCS with side plate-showed excellent results as per Neer’s criteria. Excellent results were observed in 3 out of 4 fractures fixed with GSH supra-condylar nail, 3 out of 3 in those fixed with TARPO technique, 0 out of 3 in patients managed using buttress plate and 1 out of 2 patients treated with blade plate.Conclusions: Closed method of reduction followed by internal fixation (TARPO technique and GSH nail) is better than open reduction (Buttress plate, DCS with side plate and condylar blade plate) for the management of fracture supracondylar femur. DCS with side plate by open method is at par with GSH nail and TARPO technique for knee ROM and rate of complications. It is recommended that, the Neer’s criteria should not be utilised in isolation for the purpose of comparing outcomes in cases of fracture supracondylar femur. 