Abstract: Background: The incidence of intertrochanteric fractures has been increas¬ing significantly due to the rising age of modern human pop¬ulations. Generally, intramedullary fixation and extra¬medullary fixation are the 2 primary options for treatment of such fractures. The dynamic hip screw (DHS), commonly used in extramedullary fixation, has become a standard im¬plant in treatment of these fractures. Proximal femo¬ral nail (PFN) and Gamma nail are 2 commonly used devices in the intramedullary fixation. Although the effects of PFN and DHS in treatment of intertro¬chanteric fractures have been reported, the results and con¬clusions are not consistent. In View of these conditions, this study is taken up to compare the results of DHS and PFN in the management of intertrochanteric fracture.
Methods: The present study has been conducted at SSMC, Tumkur during the period June 2017 to June 2019. 40 patients with intertrochanteric fractures treated with DHS & PFN fixation were selected for the present study.
Results: The patients were evaluated based on intra operative and post-operative complications, duration of surgery, and blood loss during surgery, post-operative functional and anatomical results and time of complete weight bearing.
Conclusions: We conclude that PFN is a better alternative to DHS in the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures but is technically difficult procedure and requires more expertise compared to DHS. Operative time, radiation exposure, blood loss and intraoperative complications is less in case of PFN when compared to DHS.
