Ender nailing of pertrochanteric fractures. Results at follow-up evaluation after one year.

One hundred twenty-seven patients with pertrochanteric femoral fractures were transfixed with the Ender nail. The mean age of the patients was 78.9 years. Thirty-five percent of the fractures were of the stable type, and 65% were of the unstable type. All patients had clinical and radiologic follow-up examinations every three months for one year. Successful closed reduction was achieved in 97.6% of the patients. Perioperative supracondylar femoral fractures occurred in two patients. The overall stay in hospital was 19 days. Technical failures occurred early in five patients, and late manifestations of major technical failures occurred in four patients. The average time to fracture union was 18 weeks. The primary mortality rate was 7%. From one to 12 months, the mortality rate increased to 15%. Of the 108 patients surviving the first year, 86% regained their prefracture activity-of-daily-living status. Ninety-six percent of the surviving patients returned to their prefracture residence, a very satisfactory outcome of a condition often observed as a terminal illness.