Treatment of Gustilo grade III tibial fractures with unreamed intramedullary nailing versus external fixator: A meta-analysis

Unreamed Intramedullary nailing and external fixation are 2 major treatments widely used in Gustilo grade III open tibial fractures, but the difference in effectiveness and complication remains controversial. We retrieved original publications of comparative studies from medical literature databases and selected 9 of them for a meta-analysis. Observation items include malunion and deep infection rate, non-union and comparison of time to union. The analysis showed a lower malunion rate using unreamed intramedullary nailing than external fixation. No significant differences were revealed in deep infection/nonunion rate and time to union. More studies of larger scale and better design are needed to reach an ultimate and definite conclusion.