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Hardware removal after tibial plateau fracture (tpf)
Bones, Joints & Muscles | Last Active: Mar 10 4:13pm | Replies (104)Comment receiving replies
Hi,
I had a bad tibia plateau fracture and 6 months later I got an infection. I had emergency surgery to remove the infection by the skin. They cultured the plate and while not seen, the culture came back positive.
I have 1 plate and 8 screws that need to be removed because of infection.
What is the reality of recovery after hardware removal? My surgeon says I can walk that day. My physical therapist says, I will be 2 weeks partial weight bearing and no driving due to pain.
Replies to "Hi, I had a bad tibia plateau fracture and 6 months later I got an infection...."
Wow I had no idea you could get an infection so many months later.
I am concerned because I have RA and take Enbrel to suppress my immune system. I had a bicondylar tibial plateau fracture about 7 weeks ago. Healing well, according to the surgeon and PT. But I have a deep fear every time I give myself a shot of Enbrel.
I'm at 80 degrees of flexion, it is painful to get to. Comfortable around 60-65. I see this small plate on the outside of my knee sticking out as I bend, and it pops WAY out every time I increase ROM
This is a discouraging injury, to out it mildly.
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@blaira I had a bad ankle fracture 4 years ago, and I had my titanium hardware removed. I had pain all the time like someone was kicking me in the shins, it was developing pigment on my skin over the area and I had massive chronic hives. All that resolved after the hardware was removed. It's another surgery, but not as bad as an initial injury surgery, and I could walk after ward. I was warned about fracture risk because of the holes left by the screw tracks and I had to take it easy.
I did find a few links about metal sensitivity which is described as environmental exposure.
Metal Allergy: State-of-the-Art Mechanisms, Biomarkers, Hypersensitivity to Implants
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9739320/
Titanium and Other Metal Hypersensitivity Diagnosed by MELISA® Test: Follow-Up Study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8192180/
Metal allergy--a review on exposures, penetration, genetics, prevalence, and clinical implications
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19831422/
I'm sorry for what you've been gong through. Getting an infection around any surgical hardware can be serious and involve a lot of further surgeries to clear an infection. I hope you get the healing your looking for.