Abstract
Aim:
To audit pertrochanteric fractures treated with a cephalomedullary device in a public health institution.
Method:
A retrospective 3 year analysis from January 2007 to December 2010 using theatre records and patient files.
Analysis was done in terms of age, time to surgery, duration of surgery, elective or emergency, type of device used, perioperative complications and other factors.
Results:
A total of 96 cases were confirmed. The average age was 67.4 years (13 to 99 years)
The average time to theatre was 6.9 days.
The average duration of surgery was 2 hours 59 minutes.
A Trigen reconstruction nail was used in 59.4 % of the cases followed by a PFNA (26%) and others (13.6%).
In 30% of cases surgery time was >3 hours and most were done electively (85.4%) during normal working hours.
Revision surgery due to poor surgical technique was reported in 8 of 96 (8.3%) cases.
Conclusion:
Our audit confirms that pertrochanteric fractures are common in elderly and young patients involved in high velocity trauma especially motor vehicle accidents.
Pertrochanteric fractures lead to prolonged morbidity in hospital stay and theatre time.
Cephalomedullary devices have reduced these complications and resulted in early rehabilitation and hospital discharge with only 8% of revisions in 3 years.
