Functional and radiological outcome of using proximal femoral nail for intertrochanteric fractures of femur among geriatric population in a tertiary care hospital: An evaluation study

The intertrochanteric (IT) fracture of the femur is an extra-capsular fracture that occurs between the greater and lesser trochanters. The introduction of proximal femoral nailing (PFN) is one of the fixation modalities for proximal femoral fractures that has shown positive results with relatively lesser intraoperative complications and considerably low post-operative complication rates. Hence, this study intends to analyse the functional and radiological outcomes of proximal femur fractures surgically managed with Proximal Femoral Nail. A prospective study was done among 45 patients above 65 years from June 2022 to June 2023. The functional outcome was measured by Harris Hip Score (HHS), the radiological outcome by the time of fracture union, and the pain scores by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Patients were followed up at regular intervals for 6 months post-surgery. There were no post-operative complications observed. The average time of union was 18.5 (±4.1) weeks. The mean HHS and VAS Score at the end of 6 months was 86.978±4.0 and 0.4±0.49. The Comparison of mean VAS at different intervals was statistically significant. There was a significant association between age and VAS scores at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. PFN has the advantage of requiring shorter exposure time and a lower likelihood of morbidity and operating time. Thus the treatment of intertrochanteric fracture with PFN has a more favourable outcome and it is one of the implants of choice for intertrochanteric fractures at present.