Floating Knee Injury

Dr Suresh Kumar N Parmar*, Dr Dixit kumar Raghubhai Chaudhari¹, Dr Rahul S Parmar MBBS²

1)Dr Dixit kumar Raghubhai Chaudhari, Resident in Orthopedics.

Corresponding Author: Dr Suresh Kumar N Parmar, MS Ortho Trauma and Spine Surgeon, BIMS Hospital, Bhavnagar. Assistant professor, Government Medical College, Sir t Hospital, Bhavnagar

Received Date: June 11, 2021

Published date: July 01, 2021

Introduction 

“All fracture is an individual problem and the decision to treat it by internal fixation or indeed conservatively should be based on a realistic assessment of the advantages and hazards of each method in circumstances of those particular cases. This calls for a high degree of clinical judgment which is harder to acquire or to impart technical virtuosity in operating theatre”.

Among all the open fractures tibia and femur is the largest bone that is involved in open to the increase in vehicular accidents and industrial mishaps; high-velocity trauma produces open tibial and femoral fractures. Stabilization of fractures by external fixations proved to be cumbersome, and a high percentage of complications associated with casting and compression plating has led to an increasing in the popularity of intramedullary nailing in the tibia.                                   

Ipsilateral fractures of the femur and tibia have been called “FLOATING KNEE INJURY’” and may include combinations of diaphyseal, metaphyseal and intraarticular fractures.

Floating Knee injuries are complex injuries. The type of fractures, soft tissue and associated injuries make this a challenging problem to manage. We present the outcome of these injuries after surgical management

Generally caused by high energy trauma, the soft tissue is often extensively damaged and life-threatening injuries to the head, chest or abdomen may also be present.

Many of these fractures are open, with associated vascular injuries. Surgical stabilization of both fractures and early mobilization of the patient and the extremity produce the best clinical outcomes.

The use of a radiolucent operating room table and the introduction of retrograde intramedullary fixation of femoral fractures have facilitated surgical stabilization of some floating-knee fracture patterns. Although treatment planning for each fracture in the extremity should be considered individually to achieve the optimal result, the effect of that decision must be considered in light of the overall injury status of the entire extremity. 

Collateral ligament and meniscus injuries may also be associated with this fracture complex. Complications (such as compartment syndrome, loss of knee motion, failure to diagnose knee ligament injury, and the need for amputation) are frequent. Better results and fewer complications are observed when both fractures are in diaphysis than when one or both are intra-articular.

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of the present study are as follows-

1. To study of different modality of treatment is FLOATING KNEE INJURY by various operative methods.
2. To study complication and outcome of the injury.
3. To study and design predictor for better prognosis.

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