Immediate or delayed Küntscher-rodding of femoral shaft fractures.

Early rodding of femoral fractures is preferable from an intensive care point of view. It has, however, been claimed that early rodding leads to impaired healing of the fractures. Healing time and complications in 20 fractures of the femur operated with Küntscher rods within 12 hours after injury were therefore compared with 47 fractures treated with traction for ten days and then Küntscher-rodding. No significant differences in results were found between the two groups concerning complications, but the acutely operated individuals returned to work on an average of two months earlier than the delayed group. If proper shock treatment is given and concomitant injuries with higher priority are treated first, early Küntscher-rodding does not seem to impair the healing of femoral fractures.