Minimally invasive dynamic hip screw for fixation of hip fractures

We compared a minimally invasive surgical technique to the conventional (open approach) surgical technique used in fixation of hip fractures with the dynamic hip screw (DHS) device. Using a case-control design (44 cases and 44 controls), we tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the two techniques in the following outcome measures: duration of surgery, time to mobilisation and weight bearing postoperatively, length of hospital stay, mean difference of pre- and postoperative haemoglobin levels, position of the lag screw of the DHS device in the femoral head, and the tip-apex distance. The minimally invasive DHS technique had significantly shorter duration of surgery and length of hospital stay. There was also less blood loss in the minimally invasive DHS technique. The minimally invasive DHS technique produces better outcome measures in the operating time, length of hospital stay, and blood loss compared to the conventional approach while maintaining equal fixation stability.