by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Intertrochanteric fracture

Ask during the case

  1. Positioning on the fracture table, with the first AP and lateral: "Stable or unstable? Show me the features on these films that tell you."
  2. After reduction, before the guide wire: "What should the neck–shaft angle look like compared with the other side, and what are you checking for on the lateral?"
  3. Guide pin in the head: "Where should the tip sit on each view, and what is the tip–apex distance we're aiming for?"

Point at: the tip of the greater trochanter on fluoroscopy, then the guide pin tip and the apex of the head on both views, while they estimate the tip–apex distance.

End of day: "Draw me the AP hip with this fracture, the neck–shaft angle and a guide pin at center–center, and tell me the tip–apex distance target." Two minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before. They prep alone, redraw at turnover, and get a cold check tomorrow morning. They won't see these questions.

Open the student page

Reviewed by Mehdi “AC” Talle, D.O., November 2026. Sources: Netter, Gray's Anatomy and Hoppenfeld's surgical exposures, with Rockwood and Green for fractures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.