Can fractures heal?

  One day in December 2012, it was very unfortunate for Mr. Zhang, who accidentally fell and injured his left thigh, resulting in an oblique fracture of the middle femur, which was treated with an intramedullary nail fixation in a local hospital. Unfortunately, 5 months after the surgery, the fractured part showed no signs of healing, so Mr. Zhang and his family were anxious and sought medical help from several hospitals, but doctors told him that he needed another surgery to heal the fracture. In a desperate situation, Mr. Zhang came to the radiology department of Luoyang Orthopaedic Hospital in Henan Province to find out if there was any hope for his femur fracture to heal and if he needed another surgery.  This time, Mr. Zhang was lucky. After carefully diagnosing his imaging data, we told him that there was a test that could clearly determine whether the fracture could heal or not. Mr. Zhang half-heartedly underwent the test, and after the results came out, according to the fusion image results, he definitely said “Mr. Zhang, the reason why your fracture has not healed for such a long time is because the fixation of the fracture end is not strong enough, I can tell you responsibly that if you strengthen the external fixation treatment, one day, your fracture will definitely be able to heal! ” After hearing this, Mr. Zhang was still skeptical and followed the radiologist’s treatment advice with a try attitude, and went home with a custom-made brace to fix the affected limb in the hospital.  More than 2 months later, Mr. Zhang was reviewed at the local hospital, and a miracle really happened, the fracture end saw obvious scab growth, Mr. Zhang was so happy to forget! However, the hope of fracture healing was so great that Mr. Zhang thought that the brace could be released when the bone scabs grew, so he released the brace himself and kept getting out of bed. Mr. Zhang regretted it so much that he had to wear a fixed brace again for conservative treatment.  In February 2014, another 5 months had passed and it was time for a review. This time, Mr. Zhang did not dare to be careless and came to the radiology department of Luoyang Orthopaedic Hospital in Henan Province again for a review, and after taking DR films, we happily told him: “Mr. Zhang, you see that the fracture of your thigh is almost healed, you can release the brace, but you have to assist the crutches to recover for a while! Mr. Zhang was very happy, but he was very curious and asked, “What kind of amazing examination technology are you using? It’s divine! It’s divine!” We told him, “Mr. Zhang, this is not a miracle, this is science, this examination method is SPECT/CT image fusion technology, it is the application of radioactive isotope 99mTc-MDP to nuclear medicine imaging of bone, and then fusion with CT images, from both functional and anatomical images, to understand the blood supply, metabolism and anatomical changes in the bone, to A comprehensive analysis of the lesion will enable an accurate diagnosis.  When the radionuclide concentration zone is found to be partially or completely passing through the fracture end, regardless of whether there is bone scab formation at the fracture end, it can be judged that the fracture end is in the process of healing, and with clinically appropriate treatment, the fracture has the possibility of long-term healing; on the contrary, when there is no continuous radionuclide concentration zone passing through the fracture end, the fracture is considered The more distant the radionuclide concentration zone is from the fracture end, the less likely the fracture is to heal, and in this case, reoperation is required.  Of course, the application in fracture healing is only one aspect of this method, and it has obvious advantages in the diagnosis of loose prosthesis, hidden fracture, rheumatic disease, benign and malignant bone tumor, bone inflammation and the evaluation of the efficacy of skeletal disease treatment, etc.! I hope our medical technology and services can satisfy you!” After hearing this, Mr. Zhang nodded his head frequently and thanked him repeatedly, and praised with thumbs up that “the medical skills of the Orthopaedic Hospital are really high and the medical ethics are really good, I will do publicity for you, and come to the Orthopaedic Hospital if you are sick.