Femoral periprosthetic fractures are rising in incidence. Their management is complex and carries a high associated mortality. Unlike native hip fractures, there are no guidelines advising on time to theatre in this group. We aim to determine whether delaying surgical intervention influences morbidity or mortality in femoral periprosthetic fractures. We identified all periprosthetic fractures around a hip or knee arthroplasty from our prospectively collated database between 2012 and 2021. Patients were categorized into early or delayed intervention based on time from admission to surgery (early = ≤ 36 hours, delayed > 36 hours). Patient demographics, existing implants, Unified Classification System fracture subtype, acute medical issues on admission, preoperative haemoglobin, blood transfusion requirement, and length of hospital stay were identified for all patients. Complication and mortality rates were compared between groups.Aims
Methods
Intramedullary tibial nailing was performed in ten paired cadavers and the insertion of a medial-to-lateral proximal oblique locking screw was simulated in each specimen. Anatomical dissection was undertaken to determine the relationship of the common peroneal nerve to the cross-screw. The common peroneal nerve was contacted directly in four tibiae and the cross-screw was a mean of 2.6 mm (1.0 to 10.7) away from the nerve in the remaining 16. Iatrogenic injury to the common peroneal nerve by medial-to-lateral proximal oblique locking screws is therefore a significant risk during tibial nailing.
