June 12, 2014
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Early surgical intervention beneficial for intracapsular femoral fractures

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Among patients with intracapsular femoral fractures, early surgical intervention enabled early postoperative mobility and prevented early post-fracture complications, according to study results.

Researchers retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical records of 1,849 patients with proximal femoral fractures treated by internal fixation or femoral head arthroplasty between January 2008 and June 2011. Patients were stratified into three age groups: younger than 50 years, 50 to 70 years and older than 70 years. They were also classified as having either intracapsular or extracapsular proximal femoral fractures.

Sixty-three percent of patients underwent early treatment, defined as treatment within 48 hours from hospital admission, and 37% underwent delayed treatment, defined as surgery after 48 hours from admission.

For the first 60 postoperative days, survival rates for the early operated group were 96% vs. 93% for the delayed group, according to study results. At 1 year, survival rates were 90% for the early operated group and 81% for the delayed group.

The researchers found patients with intracapsular fractures had a mortality rate of 11.7% for early operation and 22.4% for delayed operation vs. 11.85% for early operation and 18.4% for delayed operation in patients with extracapsular fractures. In both diagnostic groups, the researchers found males had a higher hazard ratio for mortality.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.