Emergency Cases Northwest Group

061 Cut it Out

Situation

Man presented with bradycardia, final diagnosis: hip screw penetrating into the hip joint.

Background

An elderly man presented with dizzy episodes. Found to have bradycardia. Then found to have urinary retention [though he had no urinary symptoms].

His niece was called, she suggested a hip X-ray as the patient had fallen several times and she was worried about his hip.

He had a dynamic hip screw placed after a hip fracture 4 months ago.

Assessment

X-ray hip showed the hip screw had penetrated through the femoral head and was now contacting the acetabulum.
He was admitted to orthopaedics who planned to remove the screw and do a total hip replacement.

Recommendation

Be aware that a complication of hip screws is screw cut out: this s where the screw penetrates the femoral head and entered the hip joint.


PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PATIENT IDENTIFIABLE DATA OR GEO-LOCATION DATA IN THE SUBMISSION OR IN ANY ATTACHED IMAGES

Emergency Cases Northwest Group