J. Raunest et al., THE PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF OPERATIVE MORBIDITY IN THE TREATMENT OF CORAL FEMUR FRACTURES IN AGED PATIENTS, Langenbecks Archiv fur Chirurgie, 1996, pp. 977-980
The influence of operative morbidity on clinical long-term results is
evaluated in a prospective study employing a consecutive series of 120
patients (mean age, 82.5 +/- 4.7 years) with operatively treated frac
tures of the coral femur. Perioperative complications which were obser
ved in 37.5%, with a predominance of urinary tract infection (n = 26),
bronchopneumonia (n = 16) and cardiac decompensation (n = 4), were si
gnificantly associated with a pertrochanteric fracture localization (p
< 0.05), prolonged latency from trauma to surgery (p < 0.01), and a p
revalence of three and more internal diseases (p < 0.01). At 1-year fo
llow-up patients with a perioperative complication had a significantly
worse performance scoring (p < 0.01) than individuals with an unimpai
red perioperative course. This leads to the conclusion that perioperat
ive morbidity decisively influences functional outcome in the elderly
patient.