Closed Ender nailing of femoral shaft fractures in adolescents.

Closed intramedullary Ender nailing of 16 femoral fractures in 15 children, 9-15 years of age, was studied retrospectively. Seven patients (46%) had additional injuries. The average time to independent ambulation was 7.1 days, and hospitalization time averaged 11.4 days. There were no infections, nonunions, or malunions. On follow-up, averaging 45.2 months, no patient had deformity of greater than 10 degrees in any plane. No patient had clinical loss of motion, leg length discrepancy, or radiographic evidence of growth disturbance.