New trends in fracture fixation in elderly patients

With the aging of the population it becomes more and more challenging to treat osteoporotic fractures. The so-called osteoporotic fractures include compression fractures of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, fractures of the distal radius, fractures of the proximal femur and humerus. Applied over the years the conservative therapy is gradually being replaced by surgery. Such a situation is affected by: continuous improvement of surgical techniques, including modern shoulder arthroplasty and hip joints, osteosynthesis technique allowing a stable fixation of bone fragments of reduced bone mineral density, minimally invasive surgical techniques, and improved perioperative anesthesia care. The benefits of reducing the duration of treatment and recovery of patients are: a quick return to independence, reducing pressure on the environment of the patient, as well as an economic factor, which shows that early and properly performed surgery with a short hospital stay in the surgical ward is cheaper than conservative long-term treatment with specialist care and nursing, repeated radiological examinations, transport, outpatient controls etc.