Abstract
In patients of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with severe bone atrophy, there is a danger of femoral shaft fracture during or after total hip replacement (THR) . Two cases of femoral shaft fractures after THR in RA patients were treated in our hospital.
The first case was a 44-year-old woman. She suffered a femoral neck fracture 6 months before THR and was cured by multiple pinning. The femoral shaft fracture happened 7 years after THR, when she was moving to a bed from a wheel chair. The fracture was healed by 6 months of conservative therapy.
The second case was a 58-year-old woman. She suffered a trochanteric fracture 4 months before THR and was cured by traction. The femoral shaft fracture happened 7 weeks after THR, when she was training for walking in a pool. Open reduction and bone gfafting was performed, because the prosthesis was intact. But the fracture resulted ultimatelly in pseudarthrosis.
Neither patient can walk by her own efforts yet.
