As the world population ages, the prevalence of osteoporosis and the incidence of hip fractures will increase dramatically, being responsible for an increase of the health expenditure. On the other hand, there is the inescapable fact of scarcity creating the necessity of making difficult choices with regard to the allocation of human resources. So the question remains: should we carry on investing an important part of our health expenditure for the treatment of hip fractures in elderly people? To answer this statement, we compared 384 hip fracture patients of 70 years and older treated in our department between 1978 and 1983 with 1102 patients treated between 1998 and 2003. Both groups had a prospective follow-up of at least one year. There were no statistically significant differences: mortality rate 24% vs. 23%; good functional outcome 82% vs. 73%; and home going rate 60% vs. 66%. The factors influencing these results were studied. So we can conclude: The number of hip fractures treated nowadays has increased compared with twenty years ago; There is no significant improvement in mortality, nor in quality of life; Age is not a contraindication for hip fracture surgery.
Amyloidoma (tumoral amyloidosis) is defined as a solitary localized tumor-like deposit of amyloid, in the absence of systemic amyloidosis. Amyloidoma is the least common presentation of tissue amyloid deposition, reported in many anatomic sites including the respiratory, genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts, as well as the central nervous system, skin, breast and soft tissue. Amyloidoma of the chest wall is extremely rare, and to date only one case has been reported in literature. The authors present a case of a chest wall tumor that causes local destruction, being an amyloidoma on histopathologic examination. It was treated with wide local excision, with no recurrence during almost two years of follow-up. A search for occult systemic disease is recommended and was also performed.
These results of length of stay, morbidity and readmission-rates have important implications for the organization of health care, waiting lists and costs. Therefore the ERAS principles should be more wide-spread implemented.
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