Super PATH minimally invasive hip arthroplasty for treatment of femoral neck fractures in the elderly

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of super PATH minimally invasive hip arthroplasty for the treatment of femoral neck fractures in the elderly patients. Methods From January 2014 through June 2015, 64 elderly patients with femoral neck fracture underwent hip joint replacement. Of them, 32 (15 men and 17 women with an age of 76.3±8.9 years) were treated by super PATH minimally invasive hip arthroplasty and 32 (14 men and 18 women with an age of 74.3±9.7 years) by conventional hip arthroplasty. All of them were treated through the conventional posterolateral approach. The 2 groups were compared in terms of hospital stay, operation time, change in hemoglobin on the 4th postoperative day, ambulation time, hospitalization costs, visual analogue scale (VAS) and hip Harris scores at different time points postoperatively. Results The minimally invasive group incurred significantly shorter hospital stay (8.4±1.0 d) and postoperative ambulation time (23.4±1.5 h), significantly lower hospitalization costs (48,544.9±12,336.0 yuan), and significantly higher hip Harris scores at 24 hours and one month postoperatively (75.0±5.7 points and 79.4±4.1 points) than the conventional group (10.7±1.1 d, 25.7±2.7 h, 55, 318.9±10, 896.6 yuan, 65.6±6.4 points and 75.5±3.1 points, respectively) (P 0.05). No prosthesis loosening, postoperative dislocation, periprosthetic infection or deep vein thrombosis occurred in either group during follow-up. Conclusion In the treatment of femoral neck fractures in the elderly patients, super PATH minimally invasive hip arthroplasty may be obviously advantageous over conventional replacement surgery in decreased ambulation time and hospital stay, improved short-term hip function, and reduced hospitalization costs. Key words: Arthroplasty, replacement, hip; Femoral neck fractures; Surgical procedures, minimally invasive