Mortality in fracture of the distal femoral bone (review)

Distal femur fractures in the elderly can lead to the exacerbation of chronic diseases and fatal outcomes similar to those observed in femoral neck fractures in the same category of individuals. Thus, this study aimed to determine the factors influencing the mortality of patients with distal femur fractures based on the analysis of foreign studies and results of treated patients. Review of foreign literature was conducted using the databases of medical publications PubMed, CyberLeninka, Google Scholar, Scopus, Medline, and Cochrane among articles in English, Chinese, Italian, and Russian, as well as through the Web of Knowledge. We analyzed publications for the last 10 years. Evaluation of treated patients included patients aged 60 years with distal femoral fractures between 2021 and 2023. Analysis of the literature data showed that distal femur fractures are accompanied by high mortality in patients in the first years after injury (from 18% to 35%), commonly in elderly patients without surgical treatment (90%–100%), and the presence of several concomitant diseases accompanied by contractures of the femur, knee joint, and false joint and displacement or fracture of the metal retainer. Early surgical treatment (first 48 h) is an effective treatment method that significantly reduces mortality after distal femur fracture (by 2.8 times).