A clinical study of proximal femoral nail in the management of intertrochanteric femoral fractures

Abstract

Background: Trochanteric fracture of the femur is a common orthopaedic injury in the geriatric population. The objective of the study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of proximal femoral nail in the management of intertrochanteric fractures by looking at the rate of union, complications and functional outcome. Methods: Thirty cases of intertrochanteric fractures of femur were included in the study. All these cases were fixed with proximal femoral nail. The mean age of the patient was 59.4 years. The male to female ratio was 2:1, and left side was involved in 13 cases and 17 had right sided injuries. The mechanism of injury was due to slip and fall in 25 (83.33%) patients and RTA in 5 (16.66%) patients. In our study 22 patients had systemic co-morbidity. The average operating time was 74 mins. (40 min -100 min) Results: The average duration of hospital stay was 14.3 days. All patients were followed up regularly at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months till fracture union. Functional and anatomical results were assessed using modified Harris hip score. In our study of 30 patients 13 cases (43.33%) had excellent results, 11 cases (36.66 %) had good results, 5 cases (16.66%) had fair results and 1 case (3.33%) had poor resultsConclusion: Proximal femoral nail is an excellent technique for the management of intertrochanteric fractures of femur as it creates a biomechanical stable construct allowing early weight bearing.