Distal femoral fractures: long-term outcome following stabilisation with the LISS

We studied 29 patients with distal femoral fractures stabilised using the Less invasive stabilisation system (LISS). Four patients were excluded from the final follow-up (three deaths and one case of quadriplegia). The mean age of the remaining 25 patients (9 mates and 16 females) was 60.9 years and the mean follow-up 18 months (range 12-24 months). Eleven patients were tertiary referrals from other hospitals (seven cases were referred due to failure of primary fixation). Overall, there were 12 cases of high-energy trauma (7 open fractures). According to the AO classification, there were 5 Type 33A, 2 Type 33B and 12 Type 33C fractures and 4 Type 32A, 1 Type 3213, 1 Type 32C fractures. Functional assessment was performed using the modified Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and the Schatzker and Lambert scores. The average time to union in 22 cases was 3.5 months (range 2-5 months). All of the acute cases united without the need for bone grafting. There were three out of seven cases of nonunion in the salvage group still undergoing treatment. The overall result in the acute cases was good and in the salvage cases fair. While this is a small series of patients, our preliminary data indicate favourable results using the LISS in stabilising acute distal femoral fractures. However, when the LISS is used as a revision tool the results seem to be less satisfactory. The system appears to be user-friendly and no technical difficulties were encountered. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.