• Thomas Haider, Jakob Schnabel, Julian Hochpöchler, and Gerald E Wozasek.
• Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria. thomas.haider@me.com.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2018 Nov 1; 138 (11): 1511-1517.

IntroductionAim of this study was to investigate the incidence and extent of femoral shortening in non-geriatric patients after internal fixation of femoral neck fractures in relation to the clinical outcome at mid-term follow-up.Materials And MethodsReviewing our admission data, we identified non-geriatric patients (18-65 years) with femoral neck fractures treated with either dynamic hip screw or cancellous screws between 2007 and 2015. Patients were then contacted and invited to a follow-up clinical investigation including whole-leg standing X-rays.ResultsA total of 40 patients with a mean age at surgery of 52 ± 9 years returned for the follow-up examination. Overall, 31 patients (77.5%) had undergone a dynamic hip screw fixation, while 9 patients were treated with cancellous screws (22.5%). The median follow-up time was 65.5 months (5.5 years). We observed shortening of the ipsilateral femur neck in the majority of cases (92.5%). Still, functional outcome in the overall study population was excellent with a median Harris Hip Score of 96.ConclusionsFemoral neck shortening is common in non-geriatric patients after internal fixation of femoral neck fractures. Nonetheless, observed excellent functional outcome at mid-term follow-up supports joint-preserving strategies in non-geriatric femoral neck fractures.

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