PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ilyas, Muhammad Saad
AU  - Sattar, Abdul
AU  - Zehra, Uruj
AU  - Aziz, Amer
TI  - Management of femoral shaft infected nonunion through customised Ilizarov external fixator assembly in a morbidly obese patient
AID  - 10.1136/bcr-2021-245824
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - e245824
VI  - 15
IP  - 1
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/15/1/e245824.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/15/1/e245824.full
SO  - BMJ Case Reports2022 Jan 01; 15
AB  - A 19-year-old morbidly obese man presented with infected nonunion of femoral shaft fracture. Patient had history of 13 failed fixation surgeries, assessment revealed 3-centimetre limb-length discrepancy with 3-centimetre gap nonunion. Wound debridement, primary compression and external fixation using a customised Ilizarov external fixation assembly were planned. A four-ring customised assembly was applied. Partial weight bearing was allowed from first postoperative day on walker. Patient was kept on a monthly follow-up. After complete union at 10 months after surgery, frame was dynamised. After 6 months of dynamisation, frame was removed, at that time patient was full weight bearing. Knee was still stiff with a range of motion of 0°–20°, and there was 6 cm of limb length discrepancy, which was managed with a shoe raise. At 9 months after frame removal, patient is mobile with fully united bone. Ilizarov external fixator can be a good managing option in such difficult and complicated cases.