Complex distal femoral fractures in the fragile elderly patient treated by distal femoral replacement: A report of three cases

Abstract

Complex distal femoral fracture (DFF) in the elderly patient is an infrequent but challenging scenario. In these fragile patients, DFF is associated with a high rate of medical complications and mortality. The optimum treatment remains controversial. Our aim is to propose our standard treatment, describe our results and discuss its clinical relevance. We describe three cases of elderly and fragile patients with multiple comorbidities who suffered a complex DFF after low energy trauma. They were successfully treated through a primary arthroplasty with distal femoral replacement (DFR). All the three patients presented early full weight-bearing mobilization (average time to first ambulation was five days), good functional outcome (mean knee range of motion was 103°) and short hospital length of stay (mean of ten days). According to our experience, primary arthroplasty with DFR could be a good therapeutic option for complex DFF in elderly patients.

Keywords: Anciano; Arthroplasty; Artroplastia; Distal femoral fracture; Distal femoral replacement; Elderly; Fractura femoral distal; Fragile; Frágil; Mobilization; Movilización; Reemplazo femoral distal.