ObjectiveTo systemically evaluate the clinical effect of elastic intramedullary nail and steel plate fixation for the treatment of children with femoral shaft fracture. MethodsResearch related to clinical efficacy of elastic intramedullary nail and steel plate fixation for the treatment of children with femoral shaft fracture was enrolled by retrieving the databases of PubMed, Embase, China Biology Medicine Disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, etc. After screening literature, extracting data, and evaluating quality, the RevMan 5.4 software was used for Meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 13 literature was enrolled. The results of Meta-analysis revealed that elastic intramedullary nail for treating femoral shaft fracture exhibited superior decreases of operation duration, intraoperative bleeding volume, intraoperative fluoroscopic frequency, postoperative fracture healing time, and full load time, as well as a superior improvement of postoperative Kolmert score as compared with steel plate fixation therapy (P＜0.05); however, it interpreted a higher incidence rate of complications as compared with steel plate fixation therapy (P＜0.05). ConclusionOverall clinical efficacy of elastic intramedullary nail for the treatment of children with femoral shaft fracture is superior to that of steel plate fixation, but with a relatively higher incidence rate of complications. In clinical practice, adequate preoperative evaluation should be carried out according to the specific conditions of femoral shaft fracture in children, so as to select the appropriate surgical method.

无