To explore the effect of primary exchange reamed nailing (ERN) and augmentation compression plating (ACP) combined with autogenous bone grafting (ABG) on health-related quality of life in patients with dystrophic or atrophic nonunion of femoral shaft after intramedullary nailing.

The study used a prospective study method. Sixty-two patients with femoral shaft nonunion after intramedullary nailing from August 2010 to October 2016 were selected, and the patients were divided into ERN group (group A, 32 cases) and ACP group (group B, 30 cases) by random digits table method. In group A, isthmus nonunion was in 18 cases (56.2%), and non-isthmus nonunion in 14 cases (43.8%); in group B, isthmus nonunion was in 16 cases (53.3%), and non-isthmus nonunion in 14 cases (46.7%). The health-related quality of life was compared between 2 groups, including physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) in the-12-item short form health survey (SF-12), brief pain inventory-severity (BPI-S) and brief pain inventory-interference (BPI-I).

Fifty-four patients were followed-up for more than 1 year, and the mean follow-up time was 18.3 (13 to 37) months. All patients successfully achieved bone union, and the mean time was 5.8 (4 to 8) months. Significant improvements in terms of SF-12 PCS and SF-12 MCS score were noted after operation for patients with isthmus nonunion in both groups (t=3.148, 2.156, 2.456 and 2.559; P < 0.05), but there were no significant differences before and after operation in group A with non-isthmus nonunion (P > 0.05). At the last follow-up, SF-12 PCS and SF-12 MCS in group B were significantly improved compared with those in group A: (45.2 ± 5.8) scores vs. (33.6 ± 4.7) scores and (48.8 ± 6.5) scores vs. (39.4 ± 5.6) scores, and there were statistical difference (P<0.05); SF-12 BPI-S and BPI-I showed obvious relief: (4.6 ± 2.1) scores vs. (6.2 ± 2.5) scores and (5.2 ± 1.9) scores vs. (6.8 ± 2.7) scores, and there were statistical differences (P<0.05); however there were no statistical difference in SF-12 PCS, SF-12 MCS, BPI-S and BPI-I between 2 groups (P>0.05).

Compared with ERN combined with ABG, ACP combined with ABG can significantly improve the quality of life in patients with dystrophic or atrophic nonunion of femoral shaft after intramedullary nailing. It has greater advantage on the improvement of health-related quality of life, especially for patients with non-isthmus nonunion.

Femur; Quality of Life; Nailing; Nonunion