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Periprosthetic femur fracture fixation timing may not affect length of stay, mortality
Results published in The Journal of Arthroplasty showed postoperative length of stay or mortality within 1 year did not appear affected by the timing of fixation of periprosthetic femur fractures.
Researchers recorded time to surgical management, length of stay, demographics, referral status, fracture classification and fixation modality along with mortality for 180 patients diagnosed with a periprosthetic femur fracture around a total knee or hip arthroplasty.
Results showed an average time from admission to definitive fixation of 96.5 hours. Within 48 hours after presenting to the hospital, researchers noted 31.1% of patients underwent surgery. Researchers also found 5.5% of patients experienced mortality within 1 year postoperatively. Patients in the TKA periprosthetic femur fracture cohort had an increase in total surgical time if there was a delay to definitive fixation greater than 48 hours, according to results. However, researchers did not see this trend among patients in the THA periprosthetic femur fracture cohort.
Sex, arthroplasty type, order or no order of CT scan , American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, or patient transfer from an outside hospital did not significantly affect time to definitive fixation longer than 48 hours, according to results. Although waiting longer than 48 hours for definitive fixation of periprosthetic femur fractures did not significantly affect length of stay postoperatively, researchers noted those patients tended to have longer surgical interventions. Results showed delay to definitive fixation greater than 48 hours did not influence mortality at 30 days or at 1 year. – by Casey Tingle
Disclosures: Sellan reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors relevant financial disclosures.