Treatment of pathological fractures

A pathological fracture is a fracture of a bone that has occurred from the impact of a minor force, or from a physiological load, to a bone altered by some pathological precursor process. It can be inflammatory, dystrophic, tumor, dysplastic, infectious, etc. processes. The emergence of pathological fractures mainly occurs in the zones of pathological reconstructions of bones.

How is the treatment of the so-called pathological fractures

To determine the correct treatment of a patient, experts conduct a thorough diagnosis of the disease in a patient in a variety of ways. Treatment of pathological bone fractures is medicated and surgical. Drug treatment is the use of antibacterial agents and other chemotherapy drugs, vitamin D preparations. Surgical treatment depends on the underlying disease, on its nature, on the prevalence of the pathological process.

In general, the treatment of fractures of this species practically does not differ much from the treatment of conventional fractures. But, as a rule, with pathological fractures, the terms of immobilization are extended. If possible, pathological fractures use orthopedic special methods. For example, the Shevtsov-Matsukatov apparatus, Ilizarov's apparatus. These devices allow the patient to remain active even if there is a very slow consolidation.

The most important for the treatment of pathological fractures is the identification of the cause of the painful restructuring of the bone, its elimination. For example, in cancer diseases, undoubtedly, the task of getting rid of a tumor( surgical intervention, by irradiation, chemotherapy or a combination of these methods) comes to the fore. In pathological fractures caused by osteomyelitis, antibiotics are prescribed to the patient. Surgery is necessary for bone abscess. If the cause of this ailment is osteoporosis, then it is necessary to treat metabolic disorders of tissues( bone) with the help of preparations that improve the microarchitecture of bones and the mineral composition of bones.

The aim of surgical treatment is to eliminate pain syndrome, shorten the duration of treatment in the hospital, transfer the patient to outpatient treatment. Also, the impact on the patient's mental and emotional state, the promotion of other methods of treatment, and the facilitation of patient care. Early activation of the possibility of the formation of hypercalcemia, trophic ulcers and thrombophlebitis prevents.

In order to stabilize the pathological fractures, surgical methods of treatment should be selected individually for each patient, depending on the specific qualities of the affected bone, the involvement of soft tissue structures and localization.

Among various injuries of long bones, in most cases, fractures of the humeral and femur bones are observed, and they require stable permanent intraosseous osteosynthesis. The load on long bones should be resisted by such fixation. Against the backdrop of oncologic bone lesion, surgical treatment of a pathological fracture serves, one might say, to improve the quality of the patient's vital activity in the remaining time period, but not to increase the patient's life span.

Operative treatment of these fractures, which occurred against the background of malignant processes, both primary and secondary, with the involvement of the joint end currently involves endoprosthetics. If the diaphyseal section of long bones is affected, then segmental resection with bone grafting or bone cement and fixation of bone fragments are used. Fixation is performed by internal or external metal structures, and various methods of transosseous osteosynthesis can be used.

With these fractures that appeared on the background of tumor-like lesions and benign tumors, one should adhere to surgical active tactics and perform bone resection, combining with osteosynthesis in the very first days after the appearance of the fracture, without waiting for the fragments to consolidate.