ABSTRACT
Objective:To evaluate the effects of weight-bearing area compression injury of the femoral head on the prognosis of elderly acetabular fractures after open reduction and internal fixation.Methods:A retrospective analysis of 36 elderly patients with acetabular fractures treated with open reduction and internal fixation during January 2014 to January 2018 were conducted. All patients with compression injury of the weight-bearing area of the femoral head, including 22 males and 14 females with 73.2±6.5 years old (range 60-87 years old), were included. The compression injury of weight-bearing area of the femoral head was not treated. According to the Letournel-Judet classification of acetabular fractures, there were 14 cases with both-column, 12 cases with anterior column and posterior hemitransverse, 4 cases with T type, 4 cases with transverse, and 2 cases with posterior column+ posterior wall. A total of 14 cases were accompanied by acetabular joint surface compression, while 29 cases were accompanied by joint dislocation. The Merle d'Aubigné score was used to evaluate the hip function during follow-up. The Matta classification method was used to evaluate the results of acetabular fracture reduction. The Kellgren-Lawrence classification standard and Ficat-Alert staging method were used to evaluate the traumatic arthritis of the hip and femoral head necrosis, respectively. During the follow-up, the femoral head necrosis with stage III, IV, or traumatic arthritis III, IV, or with indications for joint replacement was defined as surgery failure. CT scans of the pelvis were performed before and at 2-5 days after operation. The compression size of the femoral head on the coronal and axial planes of the CT scan was calculated for the compression volume. The compression severity was divided into small (<1 cm 3), medium (1-2 cm 3) and large (>2 cm 3) according to the volume. Binary Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze whether the postoperative measurement of the femoral head compression volume was associated with the risk of surgical failure. Results:All patients were followed up for 34.7±8.9 months (range 25-54 months). There were 7 cases with large compression of femoral head, 14 cases with medium, and 15 cases with small pre-operatively. However, there were 12 cases, 10 cases and 14 cases with large, medium and small at 2-5 days after operation, respectively. Six cases were excellent reduction, 22 cases were good, and 8 cases were poor. Thus, the excellent and good rate was 78% (28/36). At the last follow-up, Merle d'Aubigné score was excellent in 2 cases, good in 8 cases, fair in 5 cases, and poor in 21 cases. The excellent and good rate was 28% (10/36). There were 20 cases with surgery failure with 56% (20/36) failure rate. There were no statistically significant differences in the patient's age, body mass index, operation duration, blood volume, fracture type, fracture reduction, combined acetabular joint surface compression, and combined joint dislocation between the two groups. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the frequency distribution of compression volume in the weight-bearing area of the femoral head after surgery (χ 2=22.047, P<0.001). In patients with large, medium, and small-volume compression of the femoral head weight-bearing area, the surgery failure rates were 92%, 80%, and 7%, respectively. The large and medium-volume compression of the femoral head weight-bearing area were independent risk factors for surgical failure. Conclusion:Open reduction and internal fixation can be used to treat elderly patients with acetabular fractures combined with femoral head compression injury. Despite satisfactory reduction for acetabular fractures, the larger volume of femoral head compression affects the clinical outcomes with extremely high rate of surgical failure within 2 years.
ABSTRACT
Results: All patients were followed up 4-13 months, with an average of 5.7 months. During the treatment, there was no complication such as loosening or breaking of the external fixator, fracture displacement, or re-fracture in 2 groups. The using time of external fixator in group A was (24.77±1.42) weeks and the fracture healing time was (23.04±1.30) weeks, which were all significantly reduced when compared with those in group B [(34.38±1.71) weeks and (32.46±1.66) weeks] ( t=16.10, P=0.00; t=15.58, P=0.00). In group A, there were 2 cases of needle tract infection and 1 case of muscle weakness, the incidence of complication was 23.1%; in group B, there were 3 cases of needle tract infection, 1 case of muscle weakness, and 1 case of delayed union of fracture, the incidence of complication was 38.5%; there was no significant difference in the incidence of complication between 2 groups ( P=1.000).