NCT00916136

Skeletal Versus Cutaneous Traction For Treatment of Femur Fractures

Evaluation of Skeletal Versus Cutaneous Traction for Diaphyseal Femur Fractures

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 66 (actual)
• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are any differences in skeletal or cutaneous traction for the treatment of femur fractures.

Detailed description

Diaphyseal femur fractures are a common occurrence in busy level one trauma centers and even in the age of damage control orthopaedics most of these fractures are fixed definitively within 24 hours. The historical method of temporizing these fractures has been to place a distal femoral or proximal tibial skeletal traction pin. However, in the pediatric population skeletal traction is not utilized due to concern for physeal injury and cutaneous traction has been the gold standard for decades. Reasons for skeletal traction in adults are not well defined and there are no clinical studies showing that skeletal traction provides better outcomes in time of reduction in the operating theater or better pain control than cutaneous traction. With the ever increasing amount of high energy trauma seen by junior residents in the emergency department time constraints have become a large factor in patient care. Long delays for sedation and equipment procurement make stabilizing a diaphyseal femur fracture a time consuming experience. The purpose of this study is to determine whether differences exist between skeletal and cutaneous femoral traction in terms of: 1) time in patient consultation and fracture stabilization; 2) cost and risk to the patient due to lack of conscious sedation; 3) pain scores prior to surgery; 4) time of reduction of the diaphyseal femur fraction during surgical fixation; and 5) pain relief after traction application.

Conditions

• Femur Fracture

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Femoral Traction	Femoral Traction is a temporary intervention to realign the broken bone and help relieve pressure and muscle spasms until operative fixation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-05-01
• Primary completion: 2010-12-01
• Completion: 2010-12-01
• First posted: 2009-06-09
• Last updated: 2017-05-30
• Results posted: 2014-07-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States