Background: The objectives of this study were to characterize the epidemiologic features and outcomes of major treatments (internal fixation and hemiarthroplasty ) in patients with intra-capsular femoral neck fracture(FNF) by reviewing the database of National Health Insurance (NHI) of Taiwan.
Methods: From databank at the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan, all surgical managements performed for hip disorders between 1997 and 2004 were retrieved for analysis. Intra-capsular femoral neck fracture cases were studied for demographic features and outcomes of their major managements. Results: A total of 156,701 surgically treated cases with various hip disorders were retrieved for preliminary analysis. There were 110,642 surgeries performed for FNF, among which 52.54% and 47.46% of the patients were intra-capsular and extra-capsular FNF, respectively. About 95% of extra-capsular fracture cases were treated with internal fixation method, while those in intra-capsule fracture, hemiarthroplasty took about 67% of all treatment modalities and internal fixation about 32%. The overall failure rate of the internal fixation group was about 6.25%. The preview mechanism in NHI system has confined the cases of internal fixation to those younger than 60 years old and to those cases of Garden type I & II intra-capsular fracture. The risk factors for internal fixation failure cases will be presented and the optimal method of treatments for the high risk group will be suggested. |
