Introduction:

the gold standard for tibial diaphyseal fracture treatment is represented by the intramedullary nail (IMN). This study aimed to assess the relevance of nail diameter in bone healing of tibial diaphyseal fractures.

Material and methods:

a retrospective study was conducted analyzing patients with closed 42 OTA/AO tibial fractures, treated with a reamed and locked IMN between January 2014 and December 2020. The variables assessed were gender, age, comorbidities, number of bolts used, canal/nail index (difference between the diameter of the medullary canal and nail), nail/canal ratio (ratio between nail diameter and medullary canal), related to consolidation and failure rates (delay - and non-union).

Results:

96 patients were included. The consolidation rate was 91.7% (n = 88). Patients with consolidation had a significantly larger nail diameter than those who failed (p = 0.0014), increasing the chance of consolidation 5.30 (p = 0.04) times for each millimeter that the nail increased its diameter. Using a nail > 10 mm increased the chance of consolidation 13.56 times (p = 0.018). A nail/canal ratio ≥ 0.80 increased the chance of consolidation 23.33 times (p = 0.005).

Conclusion:

our findings suggested that reamed and locked IMN in tibial diaphyseal fractures should be implanted with the largest possible diameter (> 10 mm and with a nail-to-canal ratio ≥ 0.80) to promote bone healing.