Femoral Neck Fracture: Drug Therapy

Therapy goals

• Pain relief.
• Prevention of thrombosis (vascular disease in which a blood clot (thrombus) forms in a blood vessel).
• Avoidance of complications (eg, infections).

Therapy recommendations

• Analgesia (pain relief) according to WHO staging scheme.
  • Non-opioid analgesic(acetaminophen, first-line agent).
  • Low-potency opioid analgesic (e.g., tramadol) + non-opioid analgesic.
  • High-potency opioid analgesic (eg, morphine) + non-opioid analgesic.
• Thromboprophylaxis (see below Thrombosis) [hip fractures are among the high-risk factors for thrombosis].
• Infection prophylaxis (antibiotic prophylaxis) reduces the rate of superficial and deepwound infections, as well as urinary and respiratory infections in patients withfemoral neck fractures; a single dose of antibiotics with the onset of anesthesia induction is sufficient for theroutine
• See also under “Further therapy.”