A novel technique for the fixation of inter-trochantieric hip fractures: A telescoping lag screw

One-hundred and three patients with intertrochanteric hip fractures as classified by the OTA 2007 system underwent fixation using the telescoping AOS Galileo lag screw system and ES Nail (a long IM nail). Thirty-one patients (76%) were female and ten (24%) were male, with an average age of 75.70 ± 11.3 years at date of surgery. At final follow-up 21 (53%) patients returned to their pre-fracture ambulatory status, 20 (47%) had a reduction in ambulatory status, and no patients were confined to a wheel chair. The telescoping capability of the AOS Galileo lag screw allowed for a decrease in total length by 3.96 ± 3.04 mm during fracture healing. The TAD distance at final follow-up was 14.09 ± 4.69 mm. Lateral protrusion of the lag screw into soft tissue did not occur. There was one reported incidence of femoral head cutout, which occurred after the lag screw had telescoped its entire distance and began functioning as a rigid non-compressible lag screw. All other fractures healed uneventfully and no device failure occurred. The AOS Galileo telescoping lag screw has shown promise concerning IT fracture fixation and will continue to undergo further investigation.