Published online Aug 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i8.533
Peer-review started: May 6, 2023
First decision: May 19, 2023
Revised: June 15, 2023
Accepted: July 5, 2023
Article in press: July 5, 2023
Published online: August 19, 2023
Processing time: 103 Days and 3.1 Hours
As the perioperative risk of elderly patients with extremely unstable hip fractures (EUHFs) is relatively high and therapeutic effect is not satisfactory, new thera-peutic strategies need to be proposed urgently to improve the efficacy and clinical outcomes of such patients.
To determine the influence of two surgical treatment modalities on postoperative cognitive function (CF) and delirium in elderly patients with EUHFs.
A total of 60 elderly patients consecutively diagnosed with EUHF between September 2020 and January 2022 in the Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital were included. Of them, 30 patients received conventional treatment (control group; general consultation + fracture type-guided internal fixation), and the other 30 received novel treatment (research group; perioperative multidisciplinary treatment diagnosis and treatment + individualized surgical plan + risk prediction). Information on hip function [Harris hip score (HHS)], perioperative risk of orthopedic surgery [Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the Enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity (POSSUM)], CF [Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA)], postoperative delirium [mini-cognitive (Mini-Cog)], adverse events (AEs; internal fixation failure, infection, nonunion, malunion, and postoperative delirium), and clinical indicators [operation time (OT), postoperative hospital length of stay (HLOS), ambulation time, and intraoperative blood loss (IBL)] were collected from both groups for comparative analyses.
The HHS scores were similar between both groups. The POSSUM score at 6 mo after surgery was significantly lower in the research group compared with the control group, and MoCA and Mini-Cog scores were statistically higher. In addition, the overall postoperative complication rate was significantly lower in the research than in the control group, including reduced OT, postoperative HLOS, ambulation time, and IBL.
The new treatment modality has more clinical advantages over the conventional treatment, such as less IBL, faster functional recovery, more effectively optimized perioperative quality control, improved postoperative CF, mitigated postoperative delirium, and reduced operation-related AEs.
Core Tip: Characterized by severe fragmentation, extreme instability, and treatment-refractory, extremely unstable hip fractures (EUHFs) in the elderly population carry a higher perioperative risk. Given the unsatisfactory treatment outcomes of EUHFs in the elderly, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies to improve the efficacy and clinical outcomes in these patients, thus providing a guarantee for their life, health, and quality of life.