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We hypothesized that less malalignment and complications occur with intramedullary nailing of distal third tibia fractures (42A, B, C) after the implementation of orthopedic trauma surgeons to this level II community hospital. We also hypothesized that patients with 5 degrees of angulation in at least one direction. Five (13%) of these patients displayed angulation in more than one direction, and 3 of these patients exhibited >10 degrees of angulation. In Group II (trauma) 1 (5%) patient had >5 degrees angulation in any plane (P < .05). No differences were noted in time to union, nonunion, delayed union, hardware failure or infections between the two groups. Functional outcomes were assessed using the MODEMS lower limb module. In comparison of the patients with and without significant angulation, the P value for bodily pain was 0.042. Patients treated by the community orthopedic surgeons had a higher incidence of malalignment, as compared to those treated by orthopedic trauma specialists.
Obremskey et al. (Mon,) studied this question.