Correlation between Avascular Necrosis and Early Stabilization of Proximal Femoral Fractures in Childhood

OBJECTIVE We developed this study with the aim of evaluating the results from treating patients with proximal femoral fractures, in a series of cases. We sought to observe the influence of the most prevalent complications on the final results after a minimum follow-up of two years. We especially considered the relationship between establishment of avascular necrosis and the time between the accident and the therapeutic intervention. METHOD We retrospectively studied proximal extremity fractures of the femur in 29 patients under 14 years of age between 1988 and 2007. We analyzed the following variables: sex, age, mechanism of injury, fracture classification (Delbet), treatment administered, complications (pseudarthrosis, varus deformity, leg length discrepancy and avascular necrosis), duration of surgery and results (Ratliff). We carried out individual descriptive analysis on each variable. The tests were used in accordance with the premise that normality applied. For the evaluation, we used Fisher's exact test. RESULTS Five patients (17.2%) had avascular necrosis, and three of them (60.0%) were over 10 years of age. 73.3% of the patients treated within the first 24 hours showed good results. The most common cause of fractures was traffic accidents (44.8%). The best results were observed among patients who were treated surgically. 41.4% developed some type of complication. CONCLUSIONS Among the 29 patients treated, 58.6% had good, 27.6% had regular and 13.8% had poor results, according to the Ratliff criteria. When conservative treatment was applied, only 17.0% had good results, while 69.3% had good results from surgical intervention. Likewise, 73.3% of the results were good results when surgery was performed within the first 24 hours and only 42.8% of the results were good among patients who underwent surgery after this period. Patients operated within the first 24 hours developed necrosis of the femoral head in 13.3% of cases, while 21.4% of those operated after this period developed this complication.