Fracture of a tapered femoral neck after total hip arthroplasty and lightning strike. Case report.

Abstract

A fracture on the stem in a total hip arthroplasty (THA) suposes an uncommon but documented complication.
    The principal purpose was to show our experience in this kind of complication showing one case of femoral stem fracture in a male patient of fifty-five years old after a lightning strike. Our patient had a Bicontact (Aesculap, B-Braun GmbH, Melsungen, Germany) left total hip arthroplasty for twelve years, which required an acetabular component revision because of polyethylene wearing.
    The year after of the revision, the patient suffered a lightning strike and the femoral stem fracture occurred.
    A revision was conducted using a Wagner osteotomy and Revitan (Zimmer GmbH, Winterthur, Switzerland) revision prosthesis. Dall-Milles cerclages were used to close the osteotomy. The postoperative evolution was satisfactory, with an immediate partial weight bearing, consolidation of the osteotomy after three months and return to daily activity without pain.
    So far, there has been no reported evidence of this complication related to lightning strike. Many studies agree on several risk factors to consider so as avoiding femoral stem fracture, as lenght, body mass index (BMI), and excessive activity, as well as many others.
     In conclusion, both Wagner femoral osteotomy fixed with cerclage and Revitan (Zimmer GmbH, Winterthur, Switzerland) prosthesis use have provided good results in the case described in our institution.

 

DOI: 10.3944/AOTT.2015.14.0387
This abstract belongs to the un-edited version of the article and is only for informative purposes. Published version may differ from the current version.

Keywords

• Revision;Femoral neck;fracture;Crevice;Corrossion;Lightning-strike.