Management of Hip Fractures in Lateral Position without a Fracture Table

Hip fracture Management in supine position on a fracture table with biplane fluoroscopic views has some difficulties which leads to prolongation of surgery and increasing x- rays' dosage. The purpose of this study was to report the results and complications of hip fracture management in lateral position on a conventional operating table with just anteroposterior fluoroscopic view.

40 hip fractures (31 trochanteric and 9 femoral neck fractures) were operated in lateral position between Feb 2006 and Oct 2012. Age, gender, fracture classification, operation time, intra-operation blood loss, reduction quality, and complications were extracted from patients' medical records. The mean follow-up time was 30.78±22.73 months (range 4-83).

The mean operation time was 76.50 ± 16.88 min (range 50 - 120 min).The mean intra-operative blood loss was 628.75 ± 275.00 ml (range 250-1300ml). Anatomic and acceptable reduction was observed in 95%of cases. The most important complications were malunion (one case in trochanteric group), avascular necrosis of femoral head and nonunion (each one case in femoral neck group).

It sounds that reduction and fixation of hip fractures in lateral position with fluoroscopy in just anteroposterior view for small rural hospitals may be executable and probably safe.