The use of intramedullary implants in Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) patients to treat and prevent fractures, non-unions and limb deformities has been well established. To serve this purpose different implants are available from non-telescoping rods such as Rush rods and Kirschner wires, to telescoping rods such as the Dubow-Bailey rod, the Sheffield rod and the Fassier-Duval (FD) rod (Pega Medical, Laval, Quebec, Canada). The purpose of this study is to report on the long-term results of the femoral Fassier-Duval rod.

A retrospective chart review of all patients with OI who underwent a femoral intramedullary Fassier-Duval rodding between 2002 and 2017 and followed for an average of 12 years at the Shriner's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada was performed.

A total of 81 patients underwent femoral FD rodding between 2002 and 2017. Twenty-seven children undergoing 83 procedures had completed a minimum 10-year follow up with complete charts and these were included here. The average follow up time was 12 years (10–15 years). Fifty procedures were initial rodding surgeries and 30 (36.1%) were revision surgeries. A total of 69 complications were reported in the medical record and confirmed on x-ray. The 3 most common complications were a bent rod 24 (34.8%), femur fracture 16 (23.2%) and loss of telescoping in 12 (17.4%) of patients. The 3 most common cause of revision were femur fracture 16 (53.3%), broken rod 5 (16.7%) and coxa vara in 3 (10%) of patients. The average time from initial surgery to the first revision was 5.9 years.

Long term performance of femoral FD rodding shows that despite improved functioning with these rods, certain complications are to be expected, most commonly a risk of femoral fracture requiring revision surgery.