Techniques and results of reconstruction of femoral head fractures: An Update

A narrative review of the literature was conducted to examine the data on femoral head fractures, with a particular focus on their management, complications and clinical outcomes. A PRISMA strategy was used. Medline and Scopus library databases were queried using pre-defined MeSH terms and Boolean operators. Quality of evidence was evaluated based on OCEBM and GRADE systems. The 50 eligible articles that met the predefined inclusion criteria reported on 1403 femoral head fractures. A detailed analysis of the surgical approaches used was performed in 38 articles with 856 fractures. Most fractures were treated surgically (90,8 %) with preferred anatomical reconstruction in 76,7 % of all operatively treated cases. Posterior approaches were the most common (52.5 %). This was evenly split between surgical hip dislocation and the classic Kocher-Langenbeck approach. 70.5 % of surgically treated cases achieved excellent or good result according to Thompson-Epstein criteria. Highest rate of excellent results showed minimal invasive osteosynthesis and surgical hip dislocation. Major late complications were avascular necrosis (10.8 %), post-traumatic arthritis (16.2 %) and heterotopic ossification (20.8 %). Secondary THA was necessary in 6.9 %. Highest rate of major complications was joined with anterior approach (77 %), lowest rate from frequently used approaches surgical hip dislocation (37.8 %). Conservative treatment recedes into the background. The Ganz flip osteotomy with surgical hip dislocation allows safe treatment of all types of fractures and should be considered the first choice, offering the lowest rate of complications and one of the best functional outcomes. Reconstruction of Pipkin Type III fractures should be reserved for very young patients due to high rate of major complications.