[The influence of primary closed reduction on the incidence of posttraumatic femoral head necrosis (author's transl)].

24 patients with fractures of the femoral neck were younger than 65. Eight of them were operated on the day of the accident. The fractures of the other 16 patients were immediately reduced, the leg placed in traction and the operation carried out between 2 and 8 days later. Osteosynthesis was performed by means of cancellous bone screws without opening the joint. If this internal fixation was stable, the incidence of femoral head necrosis was reduced to one tenth. For fractures of the group Pauwels III this method was not suitable. Early reductions seems to be of more importance for the final results than immediate surgery.