SURGICAL MANAGEMENT OF PATHOLOGICAL FRACTURE OF DISTAL FEMORAL DIAPHYSIS WITH METASTASIS - A CASE REPORT

Introduction: The femur is the most common bone affected by a metastatic carcinoma and subsequently resulting into a pathological fracture of the bone which directly affects the daily activities of the cancer patient. Pathological fractures caused by metastatic events usually occur in late stage of the disease which are also accompanied by symptoms like severe pain, instability and loss of function. Several factors are considered in the treatment of femoral metastasis, including the location of the lesion, estimated prognosis, nature of the fracture – complete or impending and general condition of the patient. case report: We have a case of a62-year-old male patient who presented to us with the chief complaint of pain in the left thigh since 5 months with no history of significant trauma was found to have distal third femur shaft pathological fracture with a metastatic lesion on MRI who was operated with intra-medullary interlock nail. The patient was started with partial weight bearing walker mobilization on POD3. The patient was able to bear full weight over the operated limb and there was significant reduction in the pain after 1 week post op and the follow up x-ray after 2 months of surgery showed some signs of bridging callus over the lesionand the patient was sent for further evaluation of the suspected unknown primary. Conclusion: As is evident from the above case,patients with a pathological femur fracture operated with an intra-medullary implant were shown to have a significant achievement of pre operative goals of our surgical intervention in the form of reduction of pain, regaining of the range of motion of the affected joints, full weight bearing over the affected limb and a better quality of life with improvement in performance of activities of daily living.