Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Besides fracture pattern, local blood supply and infections, selection, utilization, as well as standard operation of internal fixation also affect bone union.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the causes of nonunion following internal fixation for the treatment of extremity fracture, and to explore the effective treat methods and selection of suitable internal fixation.
METHODS: Wangfang data was retrieved by the first author using key words of “bone fracture, internal fixation, nonunion” for papers addressing bone nonunion after internal fixation and treatment methods published between January 2000 and May 2010. Totally 25 documents were analyzed after removing repetitive studies or Meta analysis.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Incidence of nonunion after extremity fracture is related to operation technique except fracture pattern, local blood supply and infections, especially, has directly association with selection and utilization of internal fixation. How to select pertinent internal fixation and accurate fix it is an important factor affects long-term efficacy of fixation and promote bone union. Extremity fractures are complex due to various injury mechanisms and have effect on bone union. Accordingly, matched internal fixations are designed for different fractures types and positions. The selection and utilization of internal fixation affect bone union greatly.