Abstract
Purpose: To determine if early functional assessment correlates and/or predicts long term function after hemi-arthroplasty for displaced femoral neck fractures.
Method: We evaluated prospectively fifty six (56) patients with Garden-type III and IV femoral neck fractures in a Level 1 trauma center with a minimum of two years follow-up. Validated functional measures including Lower Extremity Measure (LEM) and Timed Up and Go (TUG) were used. Score progression was recorded and analyzed in relation to patient baseline data.
Results: The regression analysis between TUG times at three months and the mean LEM scores at two years follow-up showed a good correlation (R2=0.659). Further analysis determined that patients with TUG times of less than twenty (20) seconds at six weeks of follow-up had a mean LEM score significantly higher at both one year (81.5 vs 56.2; p< 0.001) and two years follow-up (77.1 vs 41.8; p< 0.001). This difference between mean LEM scores was also noted for the TUG values at three months.
Conclusion: The TUG test is an early clinical indicator of future function. Innovative clinical approaches such as the one demonstrated in this study to anticipate future function will contribute to increasing efficiency in the overall management of this growing patient population.
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