• Olimpio Galasso, Massimo Mariconda, Gaetano Romano, Nicola Capuano, Luigi Romano, Bruno Iannò, and Carlo Milano.
• Cattedra ed Unità Operativa Complessa di Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Università degli Studi "MagnaGraecia" di Catanzaro, Campus "S. Venuta", V.le Europa, 88100, Germaneto Catanzaro, Italy, golimpiogo@hotmail.com.
• J Orthop Traumatol. 2008 Sep 1; 9 (3): 129-34.

BackgroundRoentgenographic and functional outcomes of expandable self locking intramedullary nailing and platelet rich plasma (PRP) gel in the treatment of long bone non-unions are reported.Materials And MethodsTwenty-two patients suffering from atrophic diaphyseal long bone non-unions were enrolled in the study. Patients were treated with removal of pre-existing hardware, decortication of non-union fragments, and fixation of pseudoarthrosis with expandable intramedullary nailing (Fixion, Disc'O Tech, Tel Aviv, Israel). At surgery, PRP was placed in the pseudoarthrosis rim.ResultsThe thirteen-month follow-up showed 91% (20/22 patients) of patients attaining bony union. The average time to union was 21.5 weeks. No infection, neurovascular complication, rotational malalignment, or limb shortening >4 mm were observed. The healing rate of non-unions was comparable to that observed in previous studies but with a lower complication frequency.ConclusionsThe combined use of self locking intramedullary nailing and PRP in the management of atrophic diaphyseal long bone non-unions seems to produce comparable results with less complications than previously reported. Further data are warranted to investigate the single contribution of PRP gel and Fixion nail.

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