by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Distal femur fracture

Ask during the case

  1. On the first lateral fluoroscopy image: "Which way is the distal fragment tipped, which muscle is doing it, and what lies right behind the fracture?"
  2. During the lateral exposure, once through the IT band: "Which muscle do we lift, off which septum, and which vessels do we meet as we go posterior and distal?"
  3. Placing the distal screws: "This screw looks inside the bone on the AP. Why could it still be too long, and how would you check?"

Point at: the posterior femoral cortex on the lateral fluoroscopy image, while they say where the popliteal artery runs behind it.

End of day: "Draw me the supracondylar cross-section, then the lateral film with the deformity." Two minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before. They prep alone, redraw at turnover, and get a cold check tomorrow morning. They won't see these questions.

Open the student page

Reviewed by Mehdi “AC” Talle, D.O., November 2026. Sources: Netter, Gray's Anatomy and Hoppenfeld's surgical exposures, with Rockwood and Green for fractures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.