COMPLICATIONS IN THE USE OF THE BAILEY-DUBOW EXTENSIBLE NAIL

The results of 40 extensible intramedullary nailing procedures in 15 c hildren who had osteogenesis imperfecta were reviewed to identify risk factors leading to complications of this method of treatment, There w ere 40 complications 17 major and 23 minor, The 17 major complications led to 15 additional procedures, 10 of which were to remove or replac e the implant, The prevalence of major complications was highest in pa tients who were younger than 5 years when the nail was inserted, Nails placed in the tibia tended to produce a higher incidence of major com plications than did those placed in the femur, but this difference was not statistically significant, By survivorship analysis, patients had a greater risk of requiring a revision procedure when a technical err or occurred at the time the nail was inserted, Patients who had nails placed in the femur tended to have a loner risk of needing revision su rgery than did those who had nails placed in the tibia, but this diffe rence was not statistically significant, The results suggested that th e extensible nail is most advantageous in the femur and in patients ol der than 5 years, Avoiding technical errors when inserting the nail ma y improve the longevity of the device.