Smooth pinning İn femoral neck fractures of chlldren aged nine years old and younger

Introduction: İn this study, we presented the results of smooth pinning which is a less aggressive surgical procedure with pelvipedal cast application in fractures of the neck of the femur in children. Materials and Methods: This study covers the results of surgically treated 48 hips of 49 children with fractured neck of femur who were admitted to our clinic betvveen 1986-1998. The mean age was 6.2 years (range 2-9 years). According to Colonna classification, four hips were type I, 27 hips were type II, 16 hips were type III, and two hips were type IV. İn ali patients, closed reduction with three or four percutaneus or öpen surgical smooth pins of two or three millimeters in diameter was applied using image intensifier and traction table. Pelvipedal cast was applied postoperatively. Results: Patients were follovved for 43 months (range 27-163 months) and the results were assessed using Ratliff’s criteria. Thirty-nine (79.6%) hips had good, nine (18.4%) hips had fair, one (2%) hip had poor results. Complications included avascular necrosis in 10 hips, prematüre closure of the epiphyseal plate in 3 hips, non-union in 3 hips, varus deformity in five hips, pin loosening in three hips. Conclusion: We realized that smooth pins were advantageous as their damages on epiphyseal plate were less, their percutaneus applications were easier and removing them by minör surgical procedures was possible. Unlike in adults, the femoral fractures in children are healed easily vvithout using compressive systems. İn relation to this, we observed that smooth pins had no negative effects in fracture union. The complication rates in this study were not higher than other studies reported in the literatüre.