Treatment of intertrochanteric and subtrochanteric fractures with Ender's intramedullary rods.

A series of 100 patients was treated with Ender's rods for intertrochanteric fractures, subtrochanteric fractures and intertrochanteric pathologic lesions. Healing occurred within 4 months in all 85 of the patients who could be followed, and fractures were prevented in all 4 of the patients with pathologic lesions. Every patient who was ambulatory preoperatively regained ambulation within 3 months after surgery. Inhospital mortality for the series was 3%, compared to 8.4% for a 20-year series of 1,204 hip fractures treated by conventional means. Other advantages of the Ender's rod method are simplicity of the insertion procedure, minimal trauma and blood loss, uniform distribution of stress, early ambulation and weight bearing, and lower morbidity.