Publication:

Efficacy of bipolar hemiarthroplasty in the elderly people: a study in a tertiary care centre

Background Intertrochanteric fractures are associated with severe displacement and comminution are very common among the elderly patients especially women. Hemiarthroplasty is a procedure, where the head of the femur is replaced with a prosthetic implant. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the bipolar hemiarthroplasty among the elderly patients with intra capsular fractures.

Methods Bipolar hemiarthroplasty with or without cement was performed on 77 patients above the age of 60 years with femoral neck fractures.

Results Out of the 77 patients, 79.2% were females and 20.8% were males. The mean age of all the patients was 68.4 years. Type IV was found to be most common among the elderly. The outcome of the surgery was excellent in more than 75% of the cases. Only one patient had a poor outcome. The most common complication of the surgery was limb shortening in 5.2% patients followed by superficial infections in 2.6%.

Conclusions Bipolar hemiarthroplasty for the unstable hip fractures in the elderly has good results with early mobilizations and minimal complications. This ultimately affects the general health of the patients and reduces morbidity and mortality.