Gluteus Medius Insertion Damage: A Comparison of Reconstruction and Hip Fracture Nails

This study assessed damage to the gluteus medius tendon insertion when performing trochanteric nailing with either a reconstruction nail or a cephalomedullary nail. Ten cadavers were randomized to receive proximal reaming for either a reconstruction nail or cephalomedullary nail; the contralateral hip served as an internal control. One specimen was found to have a displaced femoral neck fracture and was excluded from data analysis. Reconstruction nailing led to tendon damage in 4 of 9 hips, compared to 8 of 9 with hip fracture nailing (p = 0.29). In the reconstruction nail group, the average amount of tendon damaged was 3% (range 0–10%), while in the hip fracture nail group, the average was 15% (range 0–20.3%) (p = 0.0003). Open reaming for placement of a reconstruction nail caused less gluteus medius tendon damage when compared to open reaming for placement of a hip fracture nail. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 29(2):77–80, 2020) Key words: hip abductors, reconstruction nail, cephalomedullary nail