Intramedullary Nail or Primary Arthroplasty? A System Review and Meta-Analysis on the Prognosis of Intertrochanteric Femoral Fractures Based on Randomized Controlled Trials

INTRODUCTION: There is no consensus regarding the superiority between intramedullary nailing and primary arthroplasty in the management of intertrochanteric femoral fractures. This systematic review was performed to investigate and compare the clinical efficacy of intertrochanteric femoral fractures treated with these 2 methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of science core collection and ClinicalTrials.gov for randomized controlled trials which compared the clinical outcomes of intertrochanteric fractures treated with either intramedullary nails or primary arthroplasty. Relevant data of the postoperative complications, reoperations, mortality and functional assessment, were pooled and presented graphically. RESULTS: A total of 6 trials with 427 participants were identified and included in the analyses. The pooled estimates suggested these 2 techniques have comparable risks in terms of overall complications (pooled risk ratio [RR] .80; 95% confidence interval [CI] .43 to 1.43; I(2) = 79.94%), the rate of patients with orthopedic complications (RR .71, 95% CI .40 to 1.27; I(2) = .00%), reoperations (RR 1.33, 95% CI .48 to 3.71; I(2) = .00%), the overall mortality (RR .52; 95%CI .26 to 1.02; I(2) = 31.35%) and 1-year mortality (RR .67; 95%CI .38 to 1.19; I(2) = .00%). Primary arthroplasty associated with higher HHS at 3 months postoperatively (MD -21.95, 95% CI -28.29 to −15.60; I(2) = 70.44%). While the difference was not significant at 6 months (MD 2.32, 95% CI -1.55 to 6.18; I(2) = .00%), and even reversed at 12 months postoperatively (MD 13.02, 95% CI 8.14 to 17.90; I(2) = 73.42%). CONCLUSIONS: Meta-analytic pooling of current evidences demonstrated that primary arthroplasty is related to a better early functional recovery at the early stage postoperatively, but the long-term result tends to favor to intramedullary nailing. The differences in overall complications, the rate of patients with orthopedic complications, reoperations, overall and 1-year mortality did not reach a significant level.