Suggest Remedies For Hip Bone Fracture In A Cardiac Patient

Posted on Thu, 2 Jun 2016

Question: My mother, 72, suffers from calcification of heart valve and interstitial lung disease. She is on Digoxin, oral steroids and pirfinex. Yesterday she had a fall and broke her hip bone. Doctors want to operate her to fix the hip bone but have halted the surgery for 5 days to allow the impact of the blood thinning medicines to go away. The orthopaedic surgeon is confident he can fix the fracture but the anasthesia specialist made a comment that the surgery is high-risk due to her heart and lung ailments. . He said worse-case scenario is that she will be taken to ICU where they will not be able to ventilate her due to her heart problem and she will be unable to survive. What do you think? What are prospects of my mother surviving this surgery? What can be done to reduce the risk? Can I elect to keep her fracture untreated? She will be paralysed but at least alive? What should I do? Please help.

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (2 hours later)

Brief answer.....although very risky but still surgery would be a better option
Hello,
Thanks for the query.
I have read your query and understand your concern.
You really have a big problem in your hand.
Fracture hip in old age with pre existing medical problems is definitely a very risky combination for surgery.Even with optimal care,elderly trauma patients suffer a higher morbidity and mortality rate as compared to general population.
On the other hand,fact remains that most hip fractures heal without surgery,but the problem is that patient has to be in bed for 10-12 weeks. Doctors have learned over many years that putting an elderly patient in bed for such an extended period has far greater risk of developing serious complications than the surgery required to fix the broken hip.
This is the main reason that surgery is recommended to nearly all the patients with fracture hip.
My opinion would be a surgery. If surgery is successful then she won't be bed ridden and would lead a good life. Even in broader sense,sorry to say and please don't mind,what is the fun of living in this world if a person is confined to bed 24 hours with risk of death increased.
I hope it helps,however you are most welcome to revert to me for any further query.
Best of luck
Thanks

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D