The treatment of subtrochanteric fracture of the femur is one of the most difficult problems. Open reduction and rigid internal fixation is the choice of treatment nowaday. Zickel(1967) reported a new fixation device to treat subtrochanteric fracture of the femur which was designed to provide more rigid fixation in both major fragments, control angulation and rotation, and permit earlier ambulation. The authors reviewed 14 cases of subtrochanteric fracture of the femur which were treated with Zickel-Nail from June, 1979 to November, 1980. The results were obtained as follows: 1. The average age of patients was 44.7 years. 2. In 10 cases without associated injury, parallel-bar walking was possible within postoperative one week. In 8 cases of these, crutch walking with partial weight bearing was possible within postoperative 2 weeks. In others, there were some benifits in bed-side care because of rigid internal fixation which was provided with Zickel-Nail. 3. There were no significant postoperative complicatons except 3 cases of technical error. 4. There was no limb shortening except one case which was old complicated nonunion with severe osteoporosis and had a new fracture during Zickel-Nail procedure. 5. There were no differences in radiological bony union between pathologic fracture and traumatic fracture except one case with liver cell carcinoma of subtrochanteric region of the femur which we could not do follow-up study.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Extremities ; Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Hip Fractures ; Humans ; Osteoporosis ; Walking ; Weight-Bearing