International Journal of Research in Orthopaedics | January-February 2022 | Vol 8 | Issue 1 Page 106
International Journal of Research in Orthopaedics
Raj P et al. Int J Res Orthop. 2022 Jan;8(1):106-109
http://www.ijoro.org
Case Report
Restoration of neglected fracture dislocation hip
in elderly: a case report
Praveen Raj*, Kaustav Mukherjee, Gokul Raj Dhanraj, Sundararaja Bhaskar,
Pradeep Jayaram Purushothaman
INTRODUCTION
Neglected traumatic fracture dislocations of the hip are
quite rarely found in elderly and such injuries are mostly
from high energy trauma. These types of fractures are
often associated with a head injury, abdominal trauma,
ipsilateral or contralateral limb musculoskeletal injuries
which may detract attention from these underlying
fractures and as a result often missed at initial evaluation.
1
Femoral head fractures account for only 7-16% of all hip
fracture dislocations, with combined femoral head and
acetabular fractures incidence being even lower.
2
There is
no clear consensus on management of these type of
fracture dislocations in elderly population. They occur as
a shearing injury when the flexed femoral head is forced
on the posterior wall of the acetabulum causing fracture
dislocation/subluxation.
3
Neglected hip fracture
subluxation/dislocations occur when the patient does not
or cannot seek adequate medical care.
4
Moreover, in
developing countries, indigenous treatments still exist
causing further delay in treatment of these fractures.
Treatment of neglected dislocation of the hip becomes
difficult with time due to soft tissue contractures,
adhesions, fibro fatty tissue filling of acetabulum and
presence of myositis ossificans.
5
Apart from difficulty in
reduction, there are also high chances of avascular necrosis
and arthritis. Recent literature favours primary hip
replacement as compared to open reduction and internal
fixation in age above 55-60 years and in patients with
neglected hip fracture dislocations of more than 3 months
duration due to high chances of afore mentioned
complications.
6-8
Here, we report an elderly male who presented to us for a
neglected hip posterior dislocation with associated
posterior acetabulum wall and femoral head fracture who
underwent a total hip replacement.
ABSTRACT
Neglected traumatic fracture dislocation of the hip is a challenging problem due to soft tissue contractures, adhesions,
fibro fatty tissue filling acetabulum, avascular necrosis, arthritis and myositis ossificans. These types of injury often get
missed at initial evaluation in the presence of distracting injuries and in poly trauma patients. Femoral head fractures
account for only 7-16% of all hip fracture dislocations, with combined femoral head and acetabular fractures in elderly
being even lower. Literature favours primary hip replacement as compared to hip salvage in age above 60 years and in
patients with neglected hip fracture dislocations of more than 3 months duration due to high chances of afore mentioned
complications. Here, we report a case of 69 years old male with neglected hip fracture dislocation associated with
posterior acetabular wall and femoral head fracture for the challenges in management with a total hip replacement.
Keywords: Neglected, Hip fracture dislocation, Femoral head fracture, Total hip replacement
Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Received: 25 October 2021
Accepted: 01 December 2021
*Correspondence:
Dr. Praveen Raj,
E-mail: praveen.raj.473@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2455-4510.IntJResOrthop20214972