Abstract
Aim: Prospective study to evaluate the results and the technique of 63 proximal femoral osteotomies in 39 cerebral palsy patients performed with the new Fixclipª biological internal þxator system. Methods: Thirty nine cerebral palsy patients with dislocated or painful subluxing hips, who underwent upper femoral osteotomy from 2 different centres in the last 7 years were included in the study. Results: The average age of patients at operation was 12.7 years (range 3 Ð 60 years). All the patients were followed up until union. Some had removal of the implant. Postoperative splintage was normally used when soft tissue procedures were performed along with femoral osteotomy. Three patients needed revision surgery for readjustment of the device and 2 patients had superþcial infections. All osteotomies healed by 12–16 weeks apart from one. There was no malunions, or avascular necrosis. One patient had a non-union that united after revision surgery. Conclusion: The Fixclips system is modular and easily adjustable. The system lies off the bone with minimal disturbance to the periosteal blood supply. Compared to other implants, Fixclips are biologically and mechanically very effective with low complications and well suited in cerebral palsy patients where rigid þxation can cause extensive loss of bone mass. This is the þrst study reporting the use of ÔFixclipsñ system for upper femoral osteotomy.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
