Medical Treatment of Atypical Femoral Fracture

Yong-Chan Ha; Young-Kyun Lee; Byung-Woo Min

doi:10.4055/jkoa.2013.48.3.180

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Ha, Lee, and Min: Medical Treatment of Atypical Femoral Fracture

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Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association 2013; 48(3): 180-184.

Published online: 24 June 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2013.48.3.180

Medical Treatment of Atypical Femoral Fracture

Yong-Chan Ha, M.D., Young-Kyun Lee, M.D.^*, Byung-Woo Min, M.D.^†

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

^*Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.

^†Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.

Correspondence to: Yong-Chan Ha, M.D. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, 102 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-755, Korea. TEL: +82-2-6299-1577, FAX: +82-2-822-1710, hayongch@naver.com

Received 4 March 2013 Revised 14 April 2013 Accepted 23 April 2013

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Unlike typical hip fractures, atypical femoral fractures occur at subtrochanteric or diaphyseal area. Characteritics of atypical femoral fractures include their location in the subtrochanteric region and femoral shaft, transverse or short oblique orientation, minimal or no associated trauma, a medial spike when the fracture is complete, and absence of comminution. Most important treatment of atypical femoral fractures is a rigid internal fixation. However, an atypical femoral fracture resulting from long-term use of bisphosphonate might occur as delayed union or nonunion. Some case reports on effectiveness of bone-forming agents in atypical femoral fractures have been reported. According to the reported researches, parathyroid hormone and strontium ranelate are known to be effective in rapid recovery of osteoporosis and fracture. However, additional well-designed research on effectiveness of bone-forming agents in atypical femoral fractures will be necessary.

Keywords: femur, atypical fracture, bisphosphonate, medical treatment

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