Mortality following hip fracture surgery in patients with recent myocardial infarction

INTRODUCTION

In an elective setting, surgery is best avoided for at least 6 months following myocardial infarction. However, in the presence of a femoral neck fracture, this would most probably lead to significant complications in relation to prolonged immobilisation. There is no published mortality data for patients undergoing surgery for hip fracture following a recent myocardial infarction. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the mortality of hip fracture patients with a recent myocardial infarction that have undergone surgery at our institution.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Between January 2003 and October 2005, 2270 patients were admitted to our unit with a proximal femoral fracture. Of these, 11 patients were found to have a recent myocardial infarction.

RESULTS

Of these 11 patients, 8 were female. The average age was 78.2 years (range, 59–90 years). Average delay from the time of infarction to operation was 11.2 days (range, 3–23 days). Mortality at 1 and 6 months was 45.4% and 63.5%, respectively.

DISCUSSION

This is much higher than the overall reported mortality following proximal femur fracture. This information may be useful when planning future peri-operative care and discussing overall prognosis with patients and their relatives.