Abstract
Failure of cephalomedullary fixation for proximal femur fractures is an uncommon event associated with significant morbidity to the patient and cost to the healthcare system. This institution changed nailing system from the PFNA (DePuy Synthes) to InterTan (Smith and Nephew) in February 2020. To assess for non-inferiority, a retrospective review was performed on 247 patients treated for unstable proximal femur fractures (AO 31 A2; A3).
Patients were identified through manual review of fluoroscopic images. Stable fracture patterns were excluded (AO 31 A1). Pre/post operative imaging, demographic data, operative time and ASA scores assessed. Internal/external imaging and national joint registry data were reviewed for follow up.
No significant difference was found in overall failure rate of PFNA vs InterTan (4.84% vs 3.23%; p = 0.748). Overall, short nails were more likely to fail by cut-out than long nails (7.5% vs 1.2%; p = 0.015). Nails which failed by varus cut-out had a higher tip/apex distance (TAD) (26.2mm vs 17.0mm; p < 0.001). Of concern, varus cut-out occurred in two InterTan nails with TAD of <25mm. The PFNA enjoyed a shorter operative time for both the short (59.1 vs 71.8 mins; p = 0.022) and long nails (98.8 vs 114.3 mins; p = 0.016) with no difference in 120-day survival rate.
Overall failure rates of the PFNA and InterTan nailing systems were comparable. However, the failure rate of short nails in this study is concerning. Using long nails with a lag screw design for unstable intertrochanteric femoral fractures may reduce failure rates. Cumulative frequency analysis suggests stringent tip-apex distances of less than 21mm may reduce failure rates in lag-screw design cephulomedullary nails. This dataset suggests that unstable intertrochanteric fractures may be more reliably managed with a long cephalomedullary device.
