Acute femoral neck fracture in children--preliminary report

Nineteen children, aged 3-15 years, with acute femoral neck fracture were treated. The follow-up period ranged from 2 years to 6 years, 9 months (avg. 54.8 +/- 14.5 months). The clinical and radiological assessments were carried out according to the assessment system of Ratliff. Undisplaced fractures and all intertrochanteric fractures were treated conservatively and displaced ones by reduction and multiple pinning. The outcomes reveal 14 (79%) with good results, 2 (10.5%), fair and 3 (15.8%), poor. Four hips (21%) developed avascular necrosis with 2 requiring secondary surgical procedures. Both of them also had leg length discrepancy. Another 3 hips (15.8%) developed coxa vara, one of them had mild leg length discrepancy.