Can you die from breaking your femur?

Death can occur following a femur fracture due to complications such as blood clots, pneumonia, or infection.

Can you die from a fracture?

Results. Fifty-eight patients died within 30 days after fracture (3.6\%), and 122 patients (7.5\%) died within 90 days after fracture. Cardiovascular causes of death were most frequent in all fracture groups.

How bad are femur breaks?

A femoral shaft fracture usually causes immediate, severe pain. You will not be able to put weight on the injured leg, and it may look deformed—shorter than the other leg and no longer straight.

Why is the femur the most painful bone to break?

The femur is the longest and strongest bone in the body. Located in the thigh, the femur stretches from the hip to the knee. Since the femur is so large, you could imagine how much pain someone might go through when this bone is snapped in two. This injury is severe and can take a long time to try and recover from.

How long do you stay in the hospital with a broken femur?

Treatment methods included intramedullary nailing, open reduction and internal fixation, arthroplasty or other definitive fixation of femur fracture. Investigators used hospital length of stay as the primary outcome measure. Results showed patients had a median length of stay of 6.43 days.

Is breaking your femur the worst pain?

Your femur is located in your thigh, running from your hip to your knee. It’s long and strong and hurts like heck when you break it. In addition to being one of the most painful breaks, a broken femur can damage the large arteries in the leg and cause severe bleeding.

Why do people die from a femur fracture?

The principal causes of death after hip fracture were bronchopneumonia, cardiac failure, myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism. Surgical intervention, within 24 h of injury significantly reduced death from bronchopneumonia and pulmonary embolism.

Why do people die from fractures?

Combined with the trauma of a fracture and surgery, an existing health condition may significantly increase the risk of death. Death after a hip fracture may also be related to additional complications of the fracture, such as infections, internal bleeding, stroke or heart failure.

Why is a femur life threatening?

A femur fracture also may cause blood clots to form within the large veins of the thigh. If these clots break free and travel through the bloodstream, they may eventually lodge in the lungs, creating a life-threatening condition called a pulmonary embolism.

How serious is a broken femur in the elderly?

A femur break is a serious break at any age but it can be deadly to seniors that are 65 years and older. The femur is the longest bone in the body. Femur breaks/fractures are most likely at the hip but in some cases can be at the lower extremities.

What’s the worst bone to break in your leg?

What causes death after hip fracture?

Excess mortality after hip fracture may be linked to complications following the fracture, such as pulmonary embolism [5], infections [2, 6], and heart failure [2, 6]. Factors associated with the risk of falling and sustaining osteoporotic fractures may also be responsible for the excess mortality [1, 7].