Background: Most femoral neck fractures in younger patients have a different mechanism, treatment, and prognosis from those in elderly patients.
Aims: To evaluate the results of internal fixation of femoral neck fractures in patients aged between 20 and 60 years, and to determine reasons for failure.
Patients and methods: Thirty three patients aged between 20 and 60 years who sustained a femoral neck fracture between 1995 and 2000 were reviewed. This represents 5.6% of the total femoral neck fractures admitted to the unit during this period.
Results: In 26 patients (78.8%) the fracture resulted from higher energy trauma. Of 23 patients with displaced fractures four patients (17.4%) developed avascular necrosis and one patient (4.3%) developed non-union. Factors influencing outcome were mechanism of injury, pre-operative fracture displacement, adequacy of fracture reduction and delay in surgery.
Conclusion: Our study emphasises the importance of timely surgery and adequate reduction of displaced femoral neck fractures in younger patients.