Clavo gamma 3 largo en el tratamiento de las fracturas de cadera: Protrusión o perforación de la cortical anterior del fémur a nivel distal.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate and establish the factors associated with perforation or protrusion of distal femur with the long gamma nail in the treatment of trochanteric fractures of the femur. Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive, observational study of 112 patients treated with the 3 gamma nail. Inclusion criteria were: patients with hip fractures treated with a 3 long gamma nail with a minimum of one year follow up. The variables analysed were age, sex, side and type of fracture, nail length, the use of locks or distal nail entry point, state of the external cortical and postoperative complications. Distance was evaluated between the nail and the anterior cortex (mm) and the distance from the distal end to the femoral trochlea (mm). Results: Of the 112 cases, 84 (75%) were women and 28 (25%) men. The average age was 82.6 years (57-98), 78 years in men and 84 years for women. In 14 cases (12.5%), protrusion was found (8 cases) and perforation of the cortical (6 cases). All of them were in women. No differences were observed between the entry point of the nail, age, length of the nail with the presence or absence of protrusion or perforation anterior cortical, instead were more frequent when we used distal locks (p = 0.05)