Midterm effectiveness of percutaneous compression plate for femoral neck fractures in young and middle-aged patients

Abstract

To analyze midterm effectiveness of percutaneous compression plate (PCCP) for femoral neck fractures in young and middle-aged patients. The clinical data of 173 young and middle-aged patients with femoral neck fractures who met the selection criteria and were treated with PCCP internal fixation between January 2011 and March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, there were 102 males and 71 females; the age ranged from 18 to 59 years, with an average age of 44.9 years. The injury causes included falling in 112 cases, traffic accident in 32 cases, falling from height in 21 cases, struck in 7 cases, and sprain in 1 case. According to Garden classification, there were 90 cases without displacement (51 cases of type Ⅰ and 39 cases of type Ⅱ) and 83 cases with displacement (51 cases of type Ⅲ and 39 cases of type Ⅳ). According to Pauwels classification, there were 10 cases of type Ⅰ, 88 cases of type Ⅱ, and 75 cases of type Ⅲ. The time from injury to operation was 1-14 days, with an average of 4.5 days. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, perioperative blood transfusion, and hospitalization stay were recorded; the fracture reduction was evaluated by Garden alignment index at 1 day after operation; fracture healing and complications were observed, and Harris score was used to evaluate the effectiveness at last follow-up. The operation time was 34-130 minutes (mean, 78.6 minutes); the intraoperative blood loss was 10-250 mL (mean, 93.2 mL); 171 cases did not receive blood transfusion during perioperative period, 2 patients received blood transfusion of 400 mL and 800 mL respectively; the hospitalization stay was 3-19 days (mean, 11.3 days). All 173 cases were followed up 11-103 months, with an average of 42.6 months. Postoperative reduction quality was satisfactory in 170 cases and unsatisfactory in 3 cases. There were 13 cases of osteonecrosis of femoral head, 1 case of screw cutting out, 2 cases of screw withdrawal, 5 cases of femoral neck shortening, and no deep vein thrombosis in the lower extremity requiring surgical intervention. Fractures healed in 172 patients, and the healing time ranged from 3.0 to 7.5 months, with an average of 3.6 months; 1 case of nonunion occurred. Internal fixation was removed after fracture healing in 51 patients. At last follow-up, Harris score was excellent in 156 cases, good in 11 cases, fair in 3 cases, and poor in 3 cases, with an excellent and good rate of 96.5%. The treatment of femoral neck fractures with PCCP has advantages of rigid fixation, immediate weight-bearing, and sliding compression, reducing the incidences of osteonecrosis of femoral head and nonunion.