Type of screw does not influence holding power in the femoral head: a cadaver study with shearing test.

We studied the holding power during cut-out tests of 4 different screw fixation devices of the femoral head, correlated to head size and bone density, on 48 paired deep frozen proximal femurs of fresh gross specimens. We found no significant effect of the device on the holding power. There was a significantly higher maximal load at failure in large and dense heads. It seems then unnecessary to advocate more sophisticated but also more expensive devices to fix femoral neck fractures.