Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30724021›Full record

ArticleOrthopaedic surgery2019

Medial Open-wedge Osteotomy with Double-plate Fixation for Varus Malunion of the Distal Femur.

Qi-Fang He, Han-Xu Wang, Hui Sun, Yu Zhan, Bin-Bin Zhang, Xue-Tao Xie, Cong-Feng Luo

Open access · goldAbstract readEvaluation Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Orthopaedic surgery, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Femoral Malunion and Its Correction: A Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Qi-Fang HeDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Han-Xu WangDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Hui SunDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Yu ZhanDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Bin-Bin ZhangDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Xue-Tao XieDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Cong-Feng LuoDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5876-5266
Shanghai Jiao Tong University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo present our clinical experience of treating varus malunion of the distal femur through a medial open-wedge osteotomy with double-plate fixation.

methodsA prospective cohort study was performed. From January 2005 to February 2015, 15 consecutive patients with varus malunion following distal femur fractures were surgically treated at a single level I trauma center. The coronal and sagittal deformity were corrected by a medial open-wedge osteotomy of the distal femur. A medial buttress plate was used to maintain the realignment. A lateral locking plate was additionally used as a protection plate. The mean age of patients at the time of the surgery was 35.5 years (range, 22-58 years). The radiographical evaluation included the mechanical femorotibial angle, the mechanical lateral distal femoral angle, the anatomic posterior distal femoral angle, and the leg length discrepancy. Clinical outcome evaluation consisted of the range of motion (ROM) and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score.

resultsMean follow-up was 7.4 years (range, 4-11.5 years). Varus and flexion malalignment and limb discrepancy were adequately corrected in all patients. The mechanical femorotibial angle, the mechanical lateral distal femoral angle, and the anatomic posterior distal femoral angle were restored from 17.5° (range, 13°-25°) to 2.3° (range, - 2°-7°), 102.3° (range, 95°-112°) to 85.2° (range, 81°-92°), and 77.1° (range, 65°-87°) to 82.7° (range, 76°-88°), respectively. The leg length discrepancy was diminished from 3.4 cm (range, 2.4-4.5 cm) to 0.8 cm (range, 0-1.7 cm). The average bone healing time was 4.1 months (range, 2.5-6 months). The average ROM of the affected knees at 24-month follow-up was 3.4°-112.55°. The score of HSS at 4-years follow-up was 76.1 (range, 64-88). No internal fixation failure or secondary operation was noted until the last follow-up.

conclusionMedial open-wedge osteotomy can adequately correct the posttraumatic varus malunion of the distal femur. With fixation of the double plate, non-displaced bone healing and good functional outcome are expected.

Indexed as

Bone PlatesAdultFemaleFemoral FracturesFollow-Up StudiesFracture Fixation, InternalFracture HealingFractures, MalunitedHumansIntra-Articular FracturesJoint Deformities, AcquiredKnee InjuriesKnee JointMaleMiddle AgedOsteotomyDistal femur fracturesDouble plateMedial open-wedge osteotomyVarus malunion

Identifiers

PMID30724021
PMCPMC6430482
OpenAlexW2913299366

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.