Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Femoral neck fractures in young adults are real emergencies in orthopaedics. It is thought that the reduction and stable fixation have to be done immediately after the injury because of the development of avascular necrosis of the femoral neck. We retrospectively evaluated the results of the young adult patients who had been operated because of femoral neck fractures in our clinic between 1997-2010. METHODS: Eighty-eight young adult patients had been treated with open reduction and internal fixation in our clinics. because of femur neck fracture between 1997-2010. Seventy- seven patients who were followed up included in our study. There were 52 (67.5 %) male, and 25 (32.5 %) female patients in our group. Functional outcomes were measured using Harris Hip Score and SF36 scoring system. Avascular necrosis was determined using Ficat and Arlet criteria. RESULTS: Mean follow-up period was 77. 1 months (24-175). Distribution of fractures according to Garden Classification was as follows: Types 1 (n=2; 2.5 %), 2 (n=14; 18.2 %), 3 (n=37; 48.1 %), and 4 (n=24; 31,2 %) Nonunion was observed in 6 (7.8 %), and avascular necrosis in 13 (16.9 %) patients. The mean time from injury to surgery was 41.2±74.79 (4-480) hours. The outcome according to Harris Hip Score was excellent in 52 (67.6 %), good in 12 (15.6 %), fair in 8 (10.3 %) and poor in 5 (6.5 %) patients The correlation between the union rate and time from injury to surgery was statistically significant (p<0.05). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Open reduction and internal fixation with cannulated screws in the treatment of femoral neck fractures is still the best choice in young adults. Early surgery is important to decrease complications especially nonunion rates.

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