Experience with a sliding screw in intertrochanteric fractures.

A retrospective study of our first year's experience with a sliding screw in intertrochanteric fractures was conducted. Forty-five patients with intertrochanteric fractures were admitted to St. Louis City Hospital in the year considered. All those who came to surgery were treated with a sliding screw. We were impressed by the ability of the sliding screw plate to adapt to the forces which, under other circumstances, cause the unstable I-T fractures to collapse or displace. The characteristics of unstable hip fractures are discussed.