Postoperative stability on lateral radiographs in the surgical treatment of pertrochanteric hip fractures.

Background Fixed-angle sliding hip-screw devices are commonly used to treat pertrochanteric fractures. The controlled impaction between the head and neck fragment and the femoral shaft fragment is crucial. However, the poor quality of fracture reduction can intercept controlled impaction and lead to excessive sliding. We hypothesized that excessive sliding occurs when most of the impaction is placed on the fragile posterior cortex of the fracture site.