Pertrochanteric fracture

Pertrochanteric fracture

A pertrochanteric bone fracture is a serious injury that occurs when the bone is subjected to a force that exceeds its ability to support body weight. In most cases, the cause of injury is a person falling on the knee or buttocks, hitting the thigh on a hard object, bruising the femur, compression of the thigh or pelvic area with a heavy object with displacement of the head of the femur into the trochanteric fossa and damage to the ligamentous-capsular apparatus that supports the joint. Patients are admitted to trauma departments not only with complex fractures, but also with crush injuries to the head, causing respiratory dysfunction. Some patients with this injury may suffer other injuries due to the misalignment of the femur. Such displacements usually go unnoticed because patients suffer from non-displaced fractures. The displacement is often discovered later after a full body x-ray has been performed.

Symptoms

Most often there is acute pain caused by bending the injured leg. During any movements, avoid this part of the leg; you need to protect it from pressure and displacement. If the patient is outdoors during rainy weather, an elastic bandage should be placed on the leg to prevent the bone from moving. When receiving such an injury, patients often lose consciousness and require the assistance of arriving personnel to evacuate the victims from the scene. However, this does not always happen.