Intertrochanteric and pertrochanteric fractures of the femur, with respect to healing, may be regarded as benign fractures. The patients most apt to incur these fractures are the aged, and the mortality rate is high. Methods of treatment that require a lengthy confinement in bed should be avoided.
The operative procedure reported, which was used in thirty cases at the Sabbatsberg Hospital, is not more serious than that employed in cases of fracture of the neck of the femur. If performed correctly in suitable cases, it gives satisfactory internal fixation and permits early mobilization. The injured patient is easily cared for, so that the work of the nursing staff is lightened ; the patient more rapidly recovers mobility and capacity for walking; and the hospital stay is shortened.
The mortality in this series of thirty cases was 10 per cent. The number of cases is too small to enable one to judge whether or not this operative procedure has produced a real reduction in mortality.