Occult hip fractures occur in 3% of cases. Delay in treatment results in significantly increased morbidity and mortality. NICE guidelines recommend cross-sectional imaging within 24 hours and surgery on the day of, or day after, admission. MRI was the standard imaging modality for suspected occult hip fractures in our institution, but since January 2013, we have switched to multi-detector CT (MDCT) scan. Our aims were to investigate whether MDCT has improved the times to diagnosis and surgery; and whether it resulted in missed hip fractures. Retrospective review of a consecutive series of patients between 01/01/2013 and 31/08/2014 who had MDCT scan for suspected occult hip fracture. Missed fracture was defined as a patient re-presenting with hip fracture within six weeks of a negative scan. A comparative group of consecutive MRI scans from 01/01/2011 to 31/12/2012 was used.Introduction
Patients/Materials & Methods
