title: Minimally invasive dynamic hip screw for fixation of hip fractures.
abstract: We compared a minimally invasive surgical technique to the conventional (open approach) surgical technique used in fixation of hip fractures with the dynamic hip screw (DHS) device. Using a case-control design (44 cases and 44 controls), we tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the two techniques in the following outcome measures: duration of surgery, time to mobilisation and weight bearing postoperatively, length of hospital stay, mean difference of pre- and postoperative haemoglobin levels, position of the lag screw of the DHS device in the femoral head, and the tip-apex distance. The minimally invasive DHS technique had significantly shorter duration of surgery and length of hospital stay. There was also less blood loss in the minimally invasive DHS technique. The minimally invasive DHS technique produces better outcome measures in the operating time, length of hospital stay, and blood loss compared to the conventional approach while maintaining equal fixation stability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine, Stoke on Trent, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garau
authors.forename: Gayle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walley
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: Alfredo Schiavone
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Panni
authors.forename: Umile Giuseppe
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maffulli
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical / Q000503:physiopathology; D001863:Bone Screws; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000502:physiology; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D011336:Probability; D011859:Radiography; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome