OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical effect of minimally invasive Trochanteric Antegrade Nail (TAN) for the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures of femur in elder.

METHODSFrom January 2005 to June 2008, 80 patients with intertrochanteric fractures of femur were treated with minimally invasive fixation of Trochanteric Antegrade Nail. There were 16 males and 64 females with an average age of 75 years ranging from 65 to 93 years. According to Evans classification, there were 8 cases of type I, 32 of type II, 30 of type III, 6 of type IV and 4 of type V. After the operation of minimally invasive Trochanteric Antegrade Nail fixation,patients begun to do the continuous passive motion (CPM) and active motion of the injured hip joint and knee joint.

RESULTSAll patients were followed from 5 to 18 months with an average of 10 months. All factures were healing in time from 10 to 14 weeks with none screw breakage. Proximal screw exiting out about 0.5 cm occurred in 3 patients without obvert symptom. Three patients appeared lower limb deep venous thrombosis and were cured with medicine. According to the scales of Sanders, pain score was 9.08 +/- 1.19, ambulation score 8.85l +/- 1.09, function score 9.10 +/- 1.27, muscle strength score 9.13 +/- 1.18, daily life score 8.91 +/- l.07, X-ray evaluation score 9.34 +/- 1.09, so as the results were excellent in 56 cases, good in 20, poor in 4.

CONCLUSIONWith the advantage of mini-invasion, operative convenience and stable fixation, minimally invasive TAN fixation is an effective method for intertrochanteric fractures in elder.