Abstract: Introduction: The term floating knee is defined as simultaneous ipsilateral fracture of femur and tibia that disconnect the knee from the rest of the limb. It includes both intra-articular and extra-articular fractures. Due to complex nature of injury and associated complications such as compartment syndrome, vascular injuries, collateral ligament and meniscal injuries, management of these type of fracture is a challenging therapeutic problem. Most often these kind of ipsilateral fractures are compound and associated with severe damage of soft tissues.
Aims and objectives: The aim of the study is to analyse the functional outcome in floating knee in various modalities of management with various complications associated with floating knee injuries.
Method and Materials: The study was done in the department of Orthopaedics at R N T medical college & M B Hospital, Udaipur from October 2017 to September 2019 which included 25 patients with 25 floating knee injuries. This was a prospective study. Follow up was done at an interval of at 1 month, 4 months, 8 months and at 1 year.
Result: By using Karlstrom & Olerud [1] criteria the functional outcome in our study was excellent in 10 (40%) patients; good in 5 (20%) patients; acceptable in 3 (12%) patients and poor in 7 (28%) patients.
In comparison to Karlstrom G., Olerud S.[25] study of 32 cases in which overall excellent to good results were obtained in 86%, our study shows 60% of overall excellent to good results. Whereas study by Veith et al. [2] had 72% excellent to good and Anastopoulas et al. [3] had 81%.
Conclusion: Aggressive wound debridement with early stabilization provide good functional outcome in treatment of floating knee injury Internal fixation of fractures permits early mobilization of the knee joint with good functional outcome.
