Objective: Significant advances in the surgical treatment of intracapsular
fractures of the femoral neck began in the mid-twentieth century, because of
the better understanding of the characteristics and biomechanics of the
fractures. The aim of this study is to precisely identify the characteristics
of the fractures, that will be taken into account in the individualization of
treatment of intracapsular fractures of the femur. Materials and Methods: We
analyzed, in a retrospective study, 148 patients with intraarticular
fractures of the femoral neck from the registry of the Orthopaedic Department
in Pozarevac, in the period from 2009 to 2014. Fractures were classified by
the modified Garden?s classification. Garden type III fractures were divided
into two sub-types. Garden type IIIa included fractures in which the distance
between the fragments of the medial cortex was less than ? the diameter of
the femoral neck. Garden type III b included fractures in which the distance
of the medial cortex of the fracture fragments was larger than ? the diameter
of the femoral neck. Patients with the Garden type I fracture (6 cases),
Garden type II ( 22 cases), Garden type IIIa (35 cases) and Garden type IV (5
cases) were treated by closed reduction and internal fixation. Patients with
Garden type IIIb (28 cases) and Garden type IV (52 cases) were treated by
primary total hip replacement. Results : All fractures in patients with the
fracture Garden type I (6 cases) and Garden type II (22 cases) have healed
and avascular necrosis did not occur. In the group of patients with the
Garden type III b fracture, 3 patients with non-union were treated with total
hip arthroplasty. In the same group in two patients avascular necrosis
occurred. In the group of patients with the Garden type IV fracture who were
treated by closed reduction and inter- nal fixation (5 cases), two patients
with non-union were treated with total hip arthroplasty. In patients with
Garden sub-type III b, in the time of monitoring we found 4 dislocations
after primary total hip arthroplasty. One patient underwent acetabular
revision in the same group. In the group of patients with Garden type IV
fracture, we found 7 dislocations after total hip arthroplasty and two
patients underwent acetabular revision surgery. Conclusion: Our results
indicate that fractures Garden type I, II and Garden type III a can be
successfully treated with internal fixation. Fractures Garden type III b and
IV should be treated by primary hip arthroplasty, because of internal
fixation of these fractures lead to unsatisfactory results.