"Floating Hip": Epidemiology and Quality of Care

The "floating hip" is a rare and complex fracture involving the pelvis and the ipsilateral femur and is therefore difficult to treat. Data and studies on this topic are still scarce. The optimal strategy for surgical treatment and thus the resulting quality of treatment are still being debated; a femur-first strategy is often the preferred treatment.

Retrospectively, patients with a pelvic fracture treated at the Level I Trauma Centre of the University of Tübingen between 2003 and 2017 were identified. Patients with an additional ipsilateral femur fracture were identified in this collective. We compared the quality of treatment of pelvic fractures between floating and non-floating hip injuries.

Proximal femur fractures were more common with pelvic ring fractures (n = 16) than with acetabular fractures (n = 1). Floating hip injuries occur more frequently in younger polytraumatised male patients. Pelvic fractures in floating hip injuries are operated more frequently (62.8% vs. 39.1%; p = 0.003) and the clinical course is significantly longer (27.8 ± 19.3 vs. 19.9 ± 23.1 days; p < 0.001). However, the quality of treatment of pelvic fracture, exemplified by morbidity (18.6% vs. 14.6%; p = 0.610) and mortality (7.0% vs. 2.6%; p = 0.108), shows no differences.

Injury severity and complexity of pelvic fracture is significantly higher in floating hip injuries, but without affecting the resulting quality of treatment. A "femur first" treatment strategy is preferable. Algorithms for emergency treatment and definitive care are proposed in a flowchart.