Two hundred patients with a basicervical, intertrochanteric, or
subtrochanteric fracture were treated by Ender-pin fixation during a
three-year period. Their median age was 73.5 years and there was a 10 per
cent mortality rate. Early partial weight-bearing with some external
support was allowed for most patients. Minimum shortening and one non-union
occurred. However, there was a substantial incidence of complications. The
fixation failed in all basicervical fractures. Distal pin migration of more
than two centimeters occurred in 50 per cent of the unstable
intertrochanteric fractures. Seventy-six per cent of the forty-two patients
who were personally examined at follow-up had pain in the knee and 36 per
cent had external malrotation. The incidence of pin migration increased in
the more unstable fractures.