“Femur related questions?”

The rod can be removed but your leg would behave to be broken again to do so; why do you want it out? Is it causing you problems? If the leg is functioning without pain, the benefit of removing the rod (of which I can see none) do not outweigh the risks.

In view of the fact that it has been 4 years, there are a few points to make in  answering your question.  1. have there been any difficulties with your recovery, slow healing, infection, prolonged time to achieve pain relief, or pain at this time, as well as leg lengths.  2. you need to be evaluated to answer your question of removal   3. the procedure of removal may be difficult due to the duration of implantation, but evaluation with your orthopaedist should help you answer this question

YES, it can come out, but It is a surgery with all the usual possible
complications. Recovery is 4-6 weeks. I would recommend leaving it alone
unless it is causing a significant amount of pain.

Hope it helps!!

Dr. Bose

My recommendation, having placed and removed a great deal of hardware over the last 10 years, is to leave it alone unless it is causing you a discrete problem. Many times, after a big injury like a femur fracture, you will have residual pain and achiness that is related to the injury and not to the hardware (rod) itself. So long as there are no obvious issues with the rod on X-rays and nothing concerning on exam (for instance, tenderness directly over a screw or prominence), then removing the rod can be a very big endeavor, even bigger of a surgery than when it was put in. There is an old saying in orthopedics - "no one looks good taking out hardware". While I would say that I've had excellent success with hardware removal, what that saying means is that taking out metal can be a bear and you may always encounter unanticipated problems that may affect your recovery afterward. Hope this helps!

These rods generally do not need to be removed and are kept permanently. If you feel that you are having symptoms due to the rod, you need to be evaluated by an orthopaedic surgeon to see if this is a possibility and if it is then you can be indicated for a removal. Removing a rod like this can be complicated and can cause issues, such as a fracture of the femur during removal. If everything goes smoothly there should be no issues afterwards due to removal of rod and your recovery is going to be only until the skin/soft tissue heals from your removal surgery.

Normally, no. It is basically grafted into your bone on some level.