Surgery for pathological proximal femoral fractures, excluding femoral head and neck fractures: resection vs. stabilisation.
Pathological femoral head and neck fractures are commonly treated by arthroplasty. Treatment options for the trochanteric region or below are not clearly defined. The purpose of this retrospective, comparative, double-centre study was to analyse survival and influences on outcome according to the surgical technique used to treat pathological proximal femoral fractures, excluding fractures of the femoral head and neck. Fifty-nine patients with 64 fractures were operated up on between 1998 and 2004 in two tertiary referral centres and divided into two groups. One group (S, n = 33) consisted of patients who underwent intramedullary nailing alone, and the other group (R, n = 31) consisted of patients treated by metastatic tissue resection and reconstruction by means of different implants. Median survival was 12.6 months with no difference between groups. Surgical complications were higher in the R group (n = 7) vs. the S group (n = 3), with no statistically significant difference. Patients with surgery-related complications had a higher survival rate (p = 0.049), as did patients with mechanical implant failure (p = 0.01). Survival scoring systems did not correlate with actual survival. Resection of metastases in patients with pathological fractures of the proximal femur, excluding femoral head and neck fractures, has no influence on survival. Patients with long postoperative survival prognosis are at risk of implant-related complications.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5-7, 8036, Graz, Austria. max_zacherl@hotmail.com
Max
M
Zacherl
Gerald
G
Gruber
Mathias
M
Glehr
Petra
P
Ofner-Kopeinig
Roman
R
Radl
Manfred
M
Greitbauer
Vilmos
V
Vecsei
Reinhard
R
Windhager
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000379:methods*; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate