Occult femoral neck fractures

• Main Authors: Valentinas Uvarovas, Andrius Vaitiekus, Igoris Šatkauskas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vilnius University Press 2014-02-01
• Series: Lietuvos Chirurgija
• Subjects: computer tomography; hip X-ray; magnetic resonance imaging occult femoral neck fracture
• Online Access: http://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuvos-chirurgija/article/view/5113

Occult femoral neck fractures are becoming an urgent problem for aging population. In general the term “occult fracture” is used to denote fractures which are occult on plain radiographs, but found to be present on other imaging modalities or intra-operatively. Estimated incidence of occult femoral neck fracture is 2 to 10 per cent according to the literature. There is a risk of secondary fracture displacement, and other related complications in case of late diagnosis of these fractures. Timely diagnosis of these fractures in elderly patients improves treatment outcomes, reduces invalidity risk. The higher mortality rate is associated with well diagnosed femoral neck fractures whose treatment was delayed for reasons other than missing X-ray evidence of a fracture.