Treatment of Pauwels Ⅲ femoral neck fractures with open reduction and fixation with cannulated screws and an augmented plate: a 3-year follow-up report / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To observe the curative effects and complications of open reduction and fixation with cannulated screws and an augmented plate for Pauwels type Ⅲ femoral neck fractures.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the data of 8 patients with fresh Pauwels Ⅲ femoral neck fracture who had been treated from January 2015 to October 2018 at Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. There were 7 males and 1 female with an age of (47.7±14.0) years. The Pauwels angle ranged from 50° to 70° in 6 cases and was >70° in 2 cases. As the original closed reduction was not ideal in all the patients, open reduction via the modified Smith-Petersen approach and fixation with cannulated screws and an augmented plate were performed. Fracture healing, Harris hip score, and complications were followed up at 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years postoperatively.Results:At 1 month after operation: 8 patients were followed up, their Harris hip score was (38.4±3.6) points, and there were 7 cases of femoral neck shortening and 1 case of incision fat liquefaction. At 6 months after operation: 7 patients were followed up, their Harris hip score was (70.6±2.8) points, and 1 patient healed anatomically, 4 patients healed with shortening, and 2 patients healed with delay and shortening. Femoral neck shortening, withdrawal of cannulated screws, and screw loosening within the augmented plate were all increased compared with 1 month after operation. At 1 year after operation: 7 patients were followed up, their Harris hip score was (85.5±4.4) points, there were no significant changes in fracture healing or complications compared with 6 months after operation. At 3 years after operation: the patient lost to prior follow-up died of heart disease 34 months after operation, 1 patient had to undergo total hip arthroplasty due to fracture nonunion and cutout of cannulated screws at 16 months after operation, and the other 6 patients had a Harris hip score of (93.6±2.5) points. Of the 6 patients, femoral neck fracture healed in 5 (shortening healing in 4, including 1 case complicated with femoral head necrosis, and anatomical healing in 1) but did not in one.Conclusions:In the treatment of Pauwels type Ⅲ femoral neck fractures, open reduction and fixation with cannulated screws and an augmented plate does not lead to ideal curative effects. The main complication is shortening of the femoral neck. The auxiliary role of augmented plate fixation is not obvious.