ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) is the most commonly used internal fixation for femoral intertrochanteric fracture. However, a large amount of hidden blood loss makes negative effect on the functional recovery postoperatively. OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical efficacy of the modified incision and standard incision in PFNA for femoral intertrochanteric fracture. METHODS: Sixty-nine patients with femoral intertrochanteric fractures were analyzed retrospectively, and were then divided into two groups, followed by treated with modified incision of PFNA (group A) or standard incision of PFNA (group B). The postoperative biomechanical stability, fracture healing time, complications, Harris scores at the last follow-up, proximal incision length, operation time, and blood loss were compared between two groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) All the patients were followed up for more than 12 months. The fracture healing time, Harris scores at the last follow-up and incidence of postoperative complications did not differ significantly between two groups. (2) The intraoperative blood loss, total blood loss and total blood transfusion in the group A were significantly less than those in the group B (P < 0.05). (3) The proximal incision length and operation time in the group A were significantly shorter than those in the group B. (4) These results manifest that in the treatment of femoral intertrochanteric fracture, both methods exhibit good biomechanical properties and stability. Notably, compared with the standard incision method, the modified incision method has less trauma, shorter operation time, less blood loss and blood transfusion.