Ge. Wozasek et al., INTRAMEDULLARY PRESSURE CHANGES AND FAT INTRAVASATION DURING INTRAMEDULLARY NAILING - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN SHEEP, The journal of trauma, injury, infection, and critical care, 36(2), 1994, pp. 202-207
In this study, intramedullary reaming and nailing were performed follo
wing the insertion of pressure transducers in intact tibias and femora
. The femur and tibia were instrumented in 12 sheep (group I) and both
tibiae in four (group II). The eight procedures of group II were moni
tored additionally using echocardiography to detect emboli. Intravasat
ion of fat globules was demonstrated in the blood by the Gurd test and
correlated with intramedullary pressure and with echocardiographic mo
nitoring in group II. Medullary nailing was found to be always associa
ted with a severe increase in intramedullary pressure, reaching an ave
rage of 1126 mm Hg (304 to 1450 mm Hg) in the tibia and of 753 mm Hg (
310 to 1126 mm Hg) in the femur during the first reaming procedures. P
article or fat intravasation was greatest during nail insertion. This
phenomenon did not depend on the rise in intramedullary pressure. Our
findings indicate that fat and bone marrow intravasation occurs during
reaming and nailing in long bones. The maximum embolization of marrow
contents demonstrated by echocardiography is seen during nail inserti
on independent of the changes in intramedullary pressure.