Which is more dangerous, cancer or hip fracture?
The answer is… fracture!
For the elderly with hip fracture, the mortality rate within one year may exceed 20%, with the highest even reaching 50%.
This is higher than the death rate of many cancers.
In China, the one-year survival rate of esophageal cancer is 54.0%. The 1-year survival rate of breast cancer can reach 90.5%, and the 5-year survival rate can even reach 73.0%.
Therefore, hip fracture is also called [the last fracture in life].
The fatal thing is not the fracture, but your choice.
As an orthopaedic doctor, I have seen too many old people who are in good health, but because of a fall, [inexplicable] people have disappeared.
The most regrettable thing is that these people may not have left. What is terrible is not the fracture itself, but the wrong treatment.
Hip is the link between thigh and hip. Once fractured, it will seriously affect walking and life. If the patient is in good health, I will recommend surgical treatment.
However, if the fracture is caused by an old man, his family will probably get entangled: is the operation safe as he gets older? Can we not have surgery?
In order to ensure the safety of the elderly, many families will choose conservative treatment that looks safer and stay in bed for rest.
On the contrary, this may be the beginning of pain.
Data show that for hip fractures, the operation itself has only a 4% risk of death. The biggest threats come from delayed surgery, conservative treatment and various complications caused by long-term bed rest.
I have seen many elderly people lying in bed with fractures:
Eating, drinking, pulling and scattering all need to be solved in bed, muscle atrophy, rapid emaciation and aging; The body festered and festered, causing terrible pain when moving. Constipation, urinary tract infection; Pneumonia causes dyspnea, high fever and unconsciousness…
Judging from the medical literature at home and abroad that I have read, the death rate of the elderly hip fracture in one year can reach as high as 50%, and the lowest is about 20%.
Surgery is the best choice, regardless of age.
When conservative treatment is not ideal and the elderly’s condition deteriorates, many families will come to me again and ask for surgery.
[Let’s control the disease first, and when it gets better, let’s look at the operation plan.]
But in fact, they have already missed the best operation time.
Case analysis from Suzhou Second People’s Hospital shows that the mortality rate of patients undergoing surgical treatment after hip fracture is 8.5% within one year, while the mortality rate of non-surgical treatment is as high as 36.8%.
At present, a large number of studies and guidelines at home and abroad all suggest that in case of hip fracture, please communicate with the doctor carefully. If the physical condition permits, no matter how old you are, try to perform the operation within 48 hours and then actively rehabilitate.
Although surgery is not foolproof, it can make the elderly recover faster and have a greater chance of enjoying their old age.
Conservative treatment seems safe and simple, but the long-term risks are greater. It will also bring great suffering to the elderly’s body and mind and finally leave in pain.
If the conditions are right, surgery is the good choice.
In this way, defeat the last fracture in life.
Every old man may fall down and everyone may grow old. You, me, my family and everyone around you may encounter it.
[The Last Fracture in Life] is our common enemy.
- If you and your family are still young, please actively prevent osteoporosis. If you have an old man in your family, please tell him to regularly monitor bone mineral density, exercise reasonably and prevent falls. If the elderly have hip fracture, please fully communicate with the doctor, strive for surgical treatment, and avoid staying in bed for a long time. If the elderly cannot operate for various reasons, please actively cooperate with medical staff to carry out nursing to prevent complications.
Please tell this knowledge to your family and friends, because the same story may happen to you and me.
The next time, it will be a different ending.