Abstract
Femoral fractures are a common injury in the paediatric population. The purpose of this study was to audit the cost and early outcomes of femur fractures treated at the Starship Childrens Hospital
Forty-eight femur fractures treated between January 1998 and December 2002 were reviewed. 25 fractures were treated by application of an early hip spica, 12 by IM nails and 11 by other methods.
Children treated by early hip spica averaged 3.8 years in age. They went to theatre an average of 29.1 hours after admission and had an average length of stay of 3.8 days. In the 30 days after discharge, five patients were readmitted for loss of fracture position.
Children treated with IM elastic nails averaged 9.5 years and went to theatre on average 35.1 hours after admission. Their length of stay averaged 8.3 days. Complications in hospital included return to theatre to shorten a wire (1 patient), remanipulation and application of a hip spica (2 patients) and difficulty mobilizing (1 patient). In the first 30 days after discharge, two patients required readmission for further surgery due to prominence of the wire.
Children treated with external fixator (7), femoral rod (1) or crossed k-wires (3) averaged 8.7 years in age. They went to theatre on average 58 hours after injury and had an average length of stay of 24 days. Two patients were readmitted with superficial pin-site infections.
Most femur fractures are being operated on the next day, however surgery is delayed in some patients. The readmission rate in the first 30 days is significant and is not reduced by operative fixation. Cost containment should focus on ways to reduce the early readmission rate.
The abstracts were prepared by Jean-Claude Theis. Correspondence should be addressed to him at Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dunedin Hospital, Private Bag 1921, Dunedin, New Zealand.
