English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Fracture clavicle is one of the most common conservatively treated fractures. Conservative management showed lesser rates of non-union and satisfactory results for fracture clavicle initially. Recent studies showed that the functional outcome following conservative management was not as optimal as it was thought to be. With changing injury patterns, increased incidence of high velocity trauma and increased functional demands of the modern patients which led to thorough evaluation of the functional outcomes following conservative management of fracture clavicle, the outcome was not optimal. Recent studies showed increased rate of non-union among conservatively managed cases compared to those which were fixed internally. Some found residual deficits among patients treated conservatively. We wanted to study the functional outcome and complications following internal fixation of clavicle fractures by using plating techniques. METHODS This prospective study was done in Department of Orthopaedics, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. We studied functional outcome of 30 fractures of clavicle which were fixed using plating technique during the period October 2016 - October 2018. Thirty patients (n = 30) were treated with plating technique using precontoured locking plates and recon plates. The fractures in this study were middle third clavicle fractures which were divided into two types based on the classification of Robinson. Type 2 Robinson clavicle fracture implies that it is a middle third clavicular fracture, which is further divided based on fracture morphology. 2b1: Displaced simple or wedge comminuted fractures 2b2: Segmental comminuted fractures. In this study, superior plating was done. The implants used were precontoured LCP and recon plates. Functional outcome was assessed using Constant Murley scoring and Quick Dash score at 10 weeks. The follow up period was for 1 year - October 2016 to October 2018. RESULTS The average time of union for the fractures treated with plating technique in our study was around 10.2 weeks. The mean Constant Murley score of our study was 91. Eighteen out of 30 patients had excellent outcomes. One patient had fair outcome due to stiffness of the shoulder. 10 patients had good result. The average DASH score of the patients was about 9.8. CONCLUSIONS Treatment of fracture middle third of clavicle using plating technique provides good functional outcome and faster recovery with minimal complications. KEYWORDS Clavicle A02.835.232.087.227, Wounds and Injuries C26, Postoperative Complications C23.550.767