Quantitative score system for the surgical decision on adult femoral neck fractures

Full article available online at ORTHOSuperSite.com. Search: 20120123-09 Surgical decision making for femoral neck fractures is currently based on factors such as patient age, fracture type, and medical condition, lacking a quantitative standard. The treatment protocol based on such qualitative assessment has poor operability, greatly affected by the surgeon’s subjective factors. As a result, a quantitative score system (QSS) focusing on 5 factors—age, fracture type, bone mineral density, activities of daily living, and medical comorbidities—with a total score of 25 is designed to deal with adult femoral neck fractures. The higher the score, the worse the patient’s physiological condition. According to our clinical experience, patients with 1 to 11 points should be treated with internal fi xation; patients with 12 to 17 points with total hip arthroplasty (THA), and patients with 18 to 22 points with hemiarthroplasty. Patients with 22 to 25 points should be treated with internal fi xation due to the high surgical risk of arthroplasty caused by poor physiological condition. Three hundred seventy-fi ve adult femoral neck fractures were treated on the basis of QSS for this 2-year prospective study. Of these, 242 were treated with low-score internal fi xation, 60 with THA, 55 with hemiarthroplasty, and 18 with high-score internal fi xation. The revision rates 2 years postoperatively in the low-score internal fi xation, THA, and hemiarthroplasty groups were 15.3%, 5.0%, and 5.5%, respectively, which were lower than those from a meta-analysis (internal fi xation, 35%; THA, 16%). This QSS helps surgical decision making regarding the treatment choice for adult patients with femoral neck fractures, and good results in preliminary clinical practice have been achieved.