Functional outcomes after tibial shaft fractures treated using the Taylor spatial frame.

Objectives: To analyze functional and radiologic outcomes of tibial shaft fractures treated with the Taylor spatial frame (TSF).

Design: Prospective follow-up study of radiologic and functional outcomes.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

Patients: From January 2006 to December 2012, prospective data were collected for 56 consecutive patients completing treatment of a tibial shaft fracture with the TSF.

Intervention: Treatment of tibial shaft fractures, including those with simple extension into the knee or ankle joints, using the TSF.

Main Outcome Measurements: Residual deformity on x-ray and functional outcomes using the EQ-5D health status questionnaire, Iowa Knee and Ankle Evaluation Rating System scores, and Olerud and Molander Ankle score were recorded 1 year after frame removal.

Results: Average residual deformity was 1.8 degrees in the coronal and 1.6 degrees in the sagittal planes. EQ-5D outcomes showed patients returning to a health status no different from scores for the UK population as a whole. Iowa Knee scores demonstrated "good" or "excellent" outcomes in 87.3% of our cohort (mean, 90). Ankle Evaluation Rating System scores and Olerud and Molander Ankle scores showed "good" or "excellent" outcomes in 76.8% and 89.3% of our cohort, respectively (mean, 84.1 and 84).

Conclusions: Use of the TSF for treatment of tibial fractures, with support from a dedicated limb reconstruction rehabilitation team, has a number of technical advantages while producing good functional and surgical outcomes, with patients recovering to a pre-injury health status.

Level Of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.