Primary prosthetic replacement in acute femoral neck fractures

This paper reports a retrospective study of acute femoral neck fractures in 123 patients treated by primary prosthetic replacement. The average age in our patient population was 80-5 years. A Christiansen trunnion-bearing hip prosthesis (Christiansen, 1969 and 1974) was used in all patients except one. The prosthesis was cemented to the femoral shaft. The postoperative mortality rate was low, and the mortality rate was 8-7 per cent. The patients were examined between 6 months and 3 1/2 years after operation. Excellent or good results according to Stinchfield's hip assessment system (Stinchfield et al., 1957) were obtained in 82 per cent of the patients. We suggest that primary prosthetic replacement in acute femoral neck fractures in elderly patients is a safe and valuable procedure. However, a definite conclusion concerning this therapy cannot be drawn before a prospective study comparing the results of internal fixation and primary prosthetic replacement is made.