Impairment of blood supply to the head of the femur after fracture of the neck.

The prognostic value of intraosseous phlebography, 99mTc-MDP scintimetry and Garden's classification was compared in 103 patients with fresh fractures of the femoral neck. The patients were classified as to vascularity after intraosseous phlebography into type A--good, type B--fair, type C--insufficient, and type D--none. The scintimetric uptake ratio was calculated for every patient. Seven of the 30 type A patients showed decreased uptake, and 2 of the type D showed increased uptake. Twenty-six of Garden stages I and II were type A, but 5 of them were type D. Osteosynthesis was carried out in 36 of the 103 patients. Intraosseous phlebography was the most useful of the three methods for evaluating the circulation of the femoral head.