• Jingwei Zhang, Nabil Ebraheim, Ming Li, Xianfeng He, Jiayong Liu, Limei Zhu, and Yihui Yu.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Ningbo Sixth Hospital, Ningbo, China.
• Clin Orthop Surg. 2015 Mar 1; 7 (1): 8-14.

BackgroundThe locking plates are often used for internal fixation of closed tibial fractures. The use of a locking plate as an external fixator is still controversial, particularly for closed fractures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of external fixation using the femoral less invasive stabilization system (LISS) plate in proximal metaphyseal fractures of the tibia.MethodsWe prospectively evaluated 35 patients (26 males and 9 females) with a mean age of 42 years (range, 21 to 62 years) who presented with fresh tibial proximal metaphyseal fractures. According to the AO Foundation and Orthopaedic Trauma Association (AO/OTA) classification, the fractures were identified as type 41-A2 in 18 cases and type 41-A3 in 17 cases, including 25 closed fractures and 10 open fractures. The femoral LISS plate was used to fix these fractures, which was placed on the anteromedial aspect of the tibia as an external fixator. The mean follow-up period was 18 months (range, 13 to 22 months).ResultsAll fractures healed in a mean time of 14 weeks (range, 10 to 20 weeks). There was no case of nonunion, deep infection, and loosening of screws and plates. One month after the appearance of cortical bridging on biplanar radiographs, the locking plate was removed within 3 minutes in the clinic without any difficulty. According to the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee scoring system and American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle scoring system, the mean HSS score was 91 (range, 85 to 100) and 98 (range, 93 to 100), and the mean AOFAS score was 94 (range, 90 to 100) and 98 (range, 95 to 100) at 4 weeks postoperatively and final follow-up, respectively.ConclusionsFor proximal metaphyseal fracture of the tibia, external fixation using the femoral LISS plate is a safe and reliable technique with minimal complications and excellent outcomes. Its advantages include ease of performing the surgery, use of a less invasive technique, and convenience of plate removal after fracture healing.

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