Displaced intra-capsular neck femur fractures in elderly: Austin Moore’s prosthesis or Cemented Modular Bipolar Prosthesis

Introduction: With various options available like unipolar, bipolar hemiarthroplasty or total hip arthroplasty, it would be wise to choose hemiarthroplasty as it is a procedure with a short operating time with lesser morbidity for elderly patients with displaced intra-capsular neck femur fractures .This study is aimed primarily at comparing the functional results obtained after a hemiarthroplasty using Austin Moore’s prosthesis and cemented modular bipolar prosthesis and studying the associated complications in these cases. Materials and methods: A total of 68 elderly patients who had fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled for this prospective, randomized, comparative study between 2 groups labeled as group A (Austin Moore’s prosthesis) and group B (bipolar prosthesis). Out of total 68 patients, 4 patients from group A were lost to follow up and 2 patients from group A died. Similar surgical approach, perioperative and follow up protocol were followed for both groups. Functional outcome measured using Harris hip score. Statistical comparison of functional outcome and clinic-radiological assessment were done for each patient at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. Results: The average age of the patient was 73.0 years in Group A and 76.0 years in Group B. After the end of 12 months, mean score was 86.50 in Group A which was comparable to 89.56 in Group B subjects. After duration of 12 months 94.1% of the subjects in Group B had excellent to good treatment which was more compared to 78.6% of the cases in Group A, but the difference was not significant. Incidence of superficial infection and dislocation of prosthesis was equal in both groups. Complications rate were also comparable between the two groups. Conclusion: Primary Hemiarthroplasty is an efficient way for treatment of displaced intra-capsular neck femur fractures in the elderly patients more than or equal to 60 years. Percentage of patients achieving excellent to good outcome at the end of 1 year are more in group B. Long term studies are needed to compare complications with hemiarthroplasty using 2 different prostheses.