Hemi replacement arthroplasty for unstable inter-trochanteric fractures of femur

Unstable inter-trochanteric fracture in the geriatric population is a common injury and is associated with poor bone quality, excessive collapse, loss of fixation, and cut-out of the lag screw, are the common problems of attempts to fix these fractures. Present study is an attempt to evaluate the functional outcome of primary cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasty in unstable inter-trochanteric fractures in elderly patients.

This prospective study included 25 cases with unstable inter-trochanteric fracture of femur between 60 -75 y of age in whom primary Cemented Bipolar hemi - arthroplasty was performed. The patients were followed up at six week, three month, six month and one year postoperatively and assessed using Harris Hip Score (HHS), Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), Visual analogue scale (VAS) for evaluation of outcome.

The mean HHS score was 78.86+8.13 by the end of one year. Similarly mean LEFS score was 34.36+7.01 by the end of one year, whereas the mean pain score on VAS Scale by the year end was 1.04+1.02.

The changes in HHS, LEFS and VAS up to six months periods are much greater which starts showing a stable trend thereafter. Fair to good scores were observed in all the patients. We compared our results with those reported by other authors and our study gave quite comparable results. We also used lower extremity function status score (LEFS) for assessment of functional ability. The purpose of its use was that while Harris Hip Score (HHS) provides information on a multitude of factors, LEFS is more patient oriented and provides the correct information about the level of activities a patient can resume post-operatively and can be offered as a self assessment tool. No significant complication except for grade I pressure sores in four patients were seen in postoperative period but they all resolved with proper nursing care by six week follow up. No patient required revision surgery.

The authors believe that primary cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasty for unstable inter-trochanteric fractures of femur in elderly does provide early ambulation, good functional outcome, pain free joint with minimal complications without the need for revision surgery.