Effects of an Emergency-Based FASE Strategy on Treating Geriatric Patients with Femoral Neck Fracture: A Retrospective Propensity Score-Matched Study.

Introduction: This study aims to assess the impacts of the Fast Access to Surgery in Emergency (FASE) strategy on (1) the workflow of multidisciplinary team (MDT) during hospitalization; (2) the clinical outcomes of geriatric femoral neck fracture (FNF) patients.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a single trauma center to evaluate the clinical data of geriatric FNF patients admitted through emergency from July 2017 to June 2022. The FASE strategy was implemented since Jan 1st 2020, and patients were categorized into the FASE group or the control group according to the time of admission (before/after the initiation timepoint of FASE strategy). Propensity score matching (PSM) was utilized to limit confounding bias between the two groups.

Results: Finally, 344 patients were included after a one-to-one matching. The FASE strategy resulted in a slightly prolonged duration in emergency (6.02±5.99 h vs 2.72±4.22 h, p<0.001) but was meanwhile associated with significant decreases in time to surgery (61.16±38.74 h vs 92.02±82.80 h, p<0.001), actual surgery delay (67.18±39.04 h vs. 94.25±84.41 h, p<0.001) and total length of hospital stay (10.57±4.93 h vs 12.50±4.73 h, p <0.001). Besides, despite the consistency of transfusion rate between the two groups, improved blood management was achieved in the FASE group, as evidenced by a smaller drop in hemoglobin levels (-20.49±17.02 g/L vs -25.28±16.33 g/L, p = 0.013) in patients without preoperative or intraoperative transfusion. However, no significant differences were observed regarding the overall clinical outcomes such as mortality or postoperative complications.

Conclusion: The Fast Access to Surgery in Emergency (FASE) for geriatric FNF patients effectively optimized the preoperative evaluation workflow, which significantly shortened time to surgery and length of hospital stay, and reduced perioperative blood loss. FASE strategy improved the surgical workflows and turnover efficiency of geriatric FNF patients, therefore could play an important role in the optimal MDT co-management for geriatric FNF patients.