OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the finding of failed @entity174 implants in association with lower extremity long @entity174 portends worse clinical or functional outcome following surgical nonunion repair. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. SETTING: Academic Medical Center. @entity1 : One hundred eighty-one @entity1 who presented to our institution over a 10-year period and underwent surgical repair of a lower extremity @entity174 nonunion. INTERVENTION: Surgical repair of lower extremity @entity174 nonunion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Time to union, @entity260 , @entity158 scores, and Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SMFA) scores following lower extremity nonunion repair. Data was analyzed to assess for differences in postoperative outcomes based on the integrity of @entity174 implants at the time of nonunion diagnosis. Implant integrity was defined using 3 groups: broken implants (BI), implants intact (II), and no implants (NI). RESULTS: There was no significant difference in time to union following surgery between the BI, II, or NI groups (mean 8.1 months vs 7.6 months vs 6.2 months, respectively). Fourteen @entity1 (7.7%) failed to heal, including 5 BI @entity1 , 7 II @entity1 , and 2 NI @entity1 . One tibial nonunion @entity1 in each of the 3 groups underwent amputation for persistent nonunion following multiple failed revision attempts at a mean of 4.8 years after @entity130 . There was no difference in postoperative @entity158 scores, the rate of @entity260 , or functional outcome scores identified between the 3 groups. CONCLUSION: The finding of failed @entity174 implants at the time of lower extremity long bone nonunion diagnosis does not portend worse clinical or functional outcome following surgical nonunion repair. @entity1 who present with failed @entity174 implants at the time of nonunion diagnosis can anticipate similar time to union, complication rates, and functional outcomes when compared to @entity1 who present with intact implants or those with history of nonoperative management. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level IV.

Presence of Failed XXXX Implants in Association with Lower Extremity Long Bone Nonunion Does Not Portend Worse Outcome Following Nonunion Repair.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients', 'patient', 'PATIENTS'] @entity174 :: ('MESH:D050723', 'Disease') :: ['bone fracture nonunion', 'fracture'] @entity260 :: ('MESH:D011183', 'Disease') :: ['postoperative complications'] @entity158 :: ('MESH:D010146', 'Disease') :: ['VAS pain', 'pain'] @entity130 :: ('MESH:D014947', 'Disease') :: ['initial injury']
@entity174 :: (MESH:D050723,Disease) :: ['Fracture']
