The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical outcomes after a less invasive locking plating technique in intra-articular fractures of the distal femur.

This was a retrospective 19 case series of patients with distal femoral intraarticular fractures treated with a less invasive locking plating technique in a single center (Dankook University Hospital) from June 2010 to April 2016. Nineteen patients (11 males and 8 females) with a mean age of 55.9 years were enrolled. The functional outcomes were evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS), range of knee joint motion (flexion & extension), and Knee Society score. The radiology outcomes were evaluated with parameters measured in a plain radiograph (deviation angle of alignment axis on coronal and sagittal plane, mechanical lateral distal femur angle).

The mean follow-up period was 26.4 months (range, 12–72 months) and the mean duration to union was 15.94 weeks (range, 11–28 weeks). The mean VAS was 1.36 (range, 0–8) and the range of motion of the knee joint was extension 4.73° (range, 0°–30°) and flexion 107.36° (range, 60°–135°). The mean Knee Society score was 85.47 (range, 47–100). The mean deviation angle of the coronal alignment axis was 4.07° (range, 1.3°–8.8°), the mean deviation angle of the sagittal alignment axis was 3.23° (range, 0.7°–7.0°), and the mechanical lateral femoral angle was 87.75° (range, 82.8°–95.5°). Six patients had traumatic osteoarthritis at the final follow-up.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiologic outcomes of intraarticular fractures of the distal femur in patients who underwent an anatomical reduction through an open reduction, and converted to an extra-articular fracture with rigid internal fixation. The results were relatively satisfactory.