OBJECTIVETo investigate the rate of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) among patients treated by intramedullary nail (IMN) for femoral shaft fracture right after the operation, the effect of femoral nailing on SIRS and sought to differentiate any differences between reamed and unreamed IMN.

METHODSThree hundred and twenty-four patients presenting with acute femoral fractured from April 1997 to April 2005, divided into 2 group depending on ISS. Group 1 had 179 patients (ISS < 16, AIS < 2) including 64 reamed cases and 115 unreamed cases; group 2 had 145 patients (ISS >or= 16, AIS >or= 2) including 51 reamed patients and 94 unreamed. All patients were treated by close reduction and intramedullary nail for fixation. The heart rate, breath rate, temperatures were recorded every 6 h before and after operation. If any of the life sign was above normal, then venous blood samples were taken at once to make sure whether SIRS occurred or not. All data were crosstabs analysis by SPSS 10.0.

RESULTSOne hundred and twenty-four patients suffered from SIRS postoperation. In group 1, 24 reamed and 37 unreamed, in group 2, 27 reamed and 36 unreamed. Among those SIRS, 119 cases healed evenly and 5 patients developed further complication. Between reamed and unreamed patients both in group 1 and group 2, there was no significant difference found. The Chi-Square value were 0.159 and 2.885 respectively, total value was 3.467, which P was 0.325, 0.089 and 0.471, all greater than 0.05.

CONCLUSIONSAlthough SIRS will result from IMN, there is no significant different effect on the rate of SIRS found between reamed and unreamed nail in both group.