Design concepts and early utilization of a new femoral interlocking nail.

Interlocking nails provide excellent stability and control of femoral fractures from the hip to the supracondylar regions, yielding excellent clinical results. Advances in femoral nail design have provided for increased variability in their applications, allowing surgeons to stabilize a wide variety of fractures through either antegrade or retrograde nail insertion methods. In the past, nails were manufactured to be implanted with a specified insertion technique, requiring the surgeon to become facile with multiple nail systems to care for the entire spectrum of femoral injuries. A new femoral intramedullary nail system is being introduced with the capability of stabilizing both right- and left-sided femoral fractures in all 3 modes of interlocking--that is, first-generation antegrade nailing, second-generation reconstruction nailing, and retrograde nailing. The design and rationale of this system are discussed, and clinical examples of use of this new device are provided.