Description of the biological risk factors for pseudarthrosis

Descripción de los factores de riesgo biológicos para seudoartrosis

Objective: To describe the clinical and surgical features which may be classified as biological risk factors for the formation of pseudarthrosis in patients with tibia and femur fractures receiving surgical or non-surgical treatment.
Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study. The biological risk factors for bone non-union secondary to tibia and femur fractures in patients seen at the San José and Infantil Universitario de San José hospitals in Bogotá Colombia were identified by reviewing their clinical records. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results: 91 patients initially receiving a surgical fixation were included. The risk factors identified were, 41.8% of patients smoked, 8.9% received medication associated with the risk of delaying fracture healing and 8.8% had comorbidities. The external tutor was the most used type of fixation (37.4%). The median time to non-union healing was 9 months (IQR 6 -11).
Discussion: The factors affecting bone healing processes are classified as mechanical and biological. A positive feature of our study is that it is the first local report on biological risk factors, excluding mechanical risk factors which in other ways favor fracture non-union.
Conclusion: Early identification and knowledge of biological risk factors for pseudarthrosis promotes a timely intervention and defining an adequate treatment providing a good prognosis.

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