Treatment of hip fractures in rheumatoid arthritis.

Of 1100 femoral neck fractures observed through an eight-year period, 27 occurred in rheumatoid conditions. The complications and functional results were compared with unselected femoral neck fracture data of nonrheumatoid patients. At two-year follow-up examinations, five of 27 surviving rheumatoid patients had had undisplaced fractures; one of the five developed segmental femoral head collapse. Nineteen of 20 patients with displaced fractures lost position or developed non-union or segmental femoral head collapse; 14 required total hip arthroplasty. In the control non-rheumatoid group, six of 27 undisplaced fractures and 34 of 67 displaced fractures developed complications. In displaced fractures, complications occurred more often in rheumatoid patients (p less than 0.0004). Because in rheumatoid patients internal fixation in displaced fractures is associated with an unacceptably high failure rate, primary hip arthroplasty may prove to be the procedure of choice.