ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the effects of lengths of intramedullary nails on the treatment efficacy of osteoporotic unstable intertrochanteric fracture.Methods:Retrospectively analyzed were the data of patients with osteoporotic unstable intertrochanteric fracture who had been admitted to Department of Orthopedics, China-Japan Friendship Hospital from January 2017 to December 2019. According to the lengths of intramedullary nails, the patients were divided into 2 groups. In the short nail group of 135 cases, there were 38 males and 97 females with an age of (82.2 ± 7.7) years and an intramedullary nail with a length of 170 mm was used. In the long nail group of 32 cases, there were 8 males and 24 females with an age of (81.5±7.1) years and an intramedullary nail longer than 300 mm was used. The amount of intraoperative hemoglobin drop value, operation time, Harris hip score at 6 months after surgery, incidence of complications and mortality were compared between the 2 groups.Results:There was no significant difference in the preoperative general data between the 2 groups, indicating comparability between groups ( P>0.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in intraoperative hemoglobin drop value [(19.8±2.2) g/L versus (20.0±2.1) g/L], Harris hip score (72.0±3.0 versus 71.2±3.6), incidence of complications [3.0% (4/135) versus 6.2 (2/32)] or mortality [14.3% (19/135) versus 15.6% (5/32)] ( P>0.05). The long nail group needed significantly longer operation time than the short nail group [(84.6±5.6) min versus (92.0±7.2) min] ( P<0.05). Conclusions:In the treatment of osteoporotic unstable intertrochanteric fracture, short and long intramedullary nails show no significant difference in hemoglobin drop value, functional score, complications or mortality, indicating they can both lead to safe and reliable curative efficacy. However, long nails need longer operation time.
ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: To assess the incidence and causes of persistent thigh pain and peri-implant fractures after union in patients of intertrochanteric fractures treated with short cephalo-medullary nails. Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study conducted at a Level 1 Trauma centre. A total of 122 patients of intertrochanteric fractures who were operated using short cephalo-medullary nails (170mm and 200mm lengths) between January 2018 to June 2019 were included in the study. Main outcomes measured were the incidence of thigh pain and peri-implant fractures. Results: Out of the 122 patients with a mean follow-up of 14.1 month, 12 patients had persistent thigh pain. Six patients had the helical blade protruding from the lateral cortex, two of them had distal tip of nail abutting on the anterior cortex and four cases had prominent proximal segment of nail which may explain the cause of their pain. Five of these patients had a combination of these findings. Two patients had pain for which no other obvious cause was found. There were no cases of peri-implant fractures in our study. Conclusion: Thigh pain associated with the use of short cephalon-medullary nails is often unrelated to nail length and can be prevented by using proper surgical technique. There seems to be no association between the use of short nails and peri-implant fractures.