Provisional pin fixation: An efficient alternative to manual maintenance of reduction in nailing of intertrochanteric fractures

Introduction: During nailing of intertrochanteric fractures, there is always a risk of reduction loss despite achieving an acceptable reduction status after a percutaneous procedure. Most surgeons usually attempted to maintain the reduction with a manual endeavor. However, we experienced varying amounts of intraoperative reduction loss and had to perform readjustments several times. These struggles motivated us to attempt provisional pin fixation as an alternative method. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting intraoperative reduction loss, especially in comparison between two methods. Materials and methods: Sixty-eight patients with intertrochanteric fractures were included. They were divided into two groups based on the method, by retrospective analysis of the intraoperative c-arm image. In the manual maintenance group, an assistant maintained the instruments during the procedure. In the provisional pin fixation group, the reduction was temporaryily held by a 3.2mm guide pin fixation across the fracture. A displacement of more than one cortical thickness in any plane or angular deformity during any point in the procedure after acceptable reduction was judged as an intraoperative reduction loss. Multivariate logistic regression was used for statistical analysis. Results: The number of cases with intraoperative reduction loss was 18 (18 of 38, 46.1 %) in the manual maintenance group and 6 (6 of 30, 20.0 %) in the provisional pin fixation group. The odds ratio of intraoperative reduction loss in the manual maintenance group was 5.182 (95% confidence interval, 1.455–18.452) compared with the provisional pin fixation group as the reference. Conclusions: As a reasonable approach for maintaining reduction, provisional pin fixation can significantly decrease intraoperative reduction loss after percutaneous reduction of intertrochanteric fractures during nailing.