[Pre- and postoperative complications of elderly patients with femoral neck fractures--a report of 525 cases].

: Pre- and postoperative complications of 525 cases of femoral neck fractures in elderly patients were studied. The mean age was 81.5 years. Preoperative complications were found in 94.5% of the patients. Circulatory and respiratory complications were 68.4% and 29.7%, respectively. Dementia was present in 55.6% of the patients. Operations for fractures were performed under spinal anesthesia only or under both spinal and epidural anesthesia. We tried to avoid hypotension and hypoxia during operations and postoperative periods under pulse oximeteric monitoring. In the postoperative period, circulatory and respiratory diseases exacerbated or newly developed in 4.4% and 5.7% of all cases, respectively. Postoperative mortality within a month was 1.0%, and it was 3.6% within a year. Many elderly patients with femoral neck fractures had preoperative complications, but postoperative complications could be avoided by careful management during pre- and postoperative periods.