Hemiarthroplasty for Femoral Neck Fracture in the Elderly - An Operation Suitable for Teaching?

Background: Hemiarthroplasty is a common procedure for treating femoral neck fractures in orthogeriatrics. For training purposes the operation may also be performed by supervised residents. Our study aims at evaluating the rates of early surgical complications after hemiarthroplasty in different age groups, comparing operations performed by consultants and residents. Methods: All patients treated with hemiarthroplasty between December 2006 and July 2011 at our municipal, maximum-care-providing hospital were included in a retrospective cohort. The Excia (R) stem with a self-centring bipolar head (Aesculap, Tuttlingen) was used in all patients. Educational level of the operator (consultant vs. resident) and operation time were noted as well as early complications including luxation, infection, haematoma, seroma, and early periprosthetic fractures (e. g., intraoperative lesions of the greater trochanter). The complication rates were evaluated and compared by the chi-square test. Results: 241 of 729 hemiarthroplasties were performed by supervised residents. Neither the overall complication rate nor the rates of specific complications differed significantly between the patients operated by consultants and those operated by residents. The result was still true if comparing the different age groups. On average operation time was 8 minutes longer in teaching operations. Conclusions: Focusing on early surgical complications, the teaching of hemiarthroplasty does not seem to increase the risk to patients of any age. We conclude that the hemiarthroplasty procedure is suitable for teaching younger colleagues in orthogeriatrics. As age is just one of several potential risk factors, additional studies on this topic should be undertaken.