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TROCHANTERIC FRACTURES OF THE FEMUR TREATED BY THE VITALLIUM McLAUGHLIN NAIL AND PLATE

J. C. Foster 1

1 The Bradford Accident Service

1. A series of 142 fractures of the trochanteric region treated by fixation with Vitallium nail-plates of the original McLaughlin pattern is described. The hospital mortality was 9 per cent. Disruption of the nail-plate junction occurred in 8 per cent of cases. This confirms McLaughlin and Garcia's (1955) view that this pattern of nail-plate should no longer be used.

2. Despite this, satisfactory functional results were achieved in 78 per cent of the survivors.

3. The new Model V McLaughlin nail-plate is described, and the stresses in nail-plates are considered. On theoretical grounds and laboratory tests the weakness at the nail-plate junction has been eliminated in the new model, and the strength of the appliance as a whole compares favourably with other types of nail-plate. Full clinical trial is therefore justified, and seventy-one patients have so far been operated on, with satisfactory early results.

4. Marked stiffness of the hip joint greatly increases angulatory and rotational stresses on the nail-plate, and a high incidence of disruption is to be expected in these cases.
(c) British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery All Rights Reserved
Registered charity no: 209299     Print ISSN: 0301-620X
Hip, Knee, Trauma, Upper limb, Foot & Ankle, Paediatrics, Oncology, Spine, Arthroplasty, General