RESUMEN
It has been generally agreed that most fractures of the humeral shaft are best treated non-operatively although occasionally there are indications for primary operative treatment. Recent advances in internal fixation techniques and instrumentation have led to an expansion of surgical indications, and operative treatment produces higher rates of nonunion, infection and other associated complication when compared with closed treatmet techniques. Because of the significant morbidity of the operative treatment, closed intramedullary fixation techniques that provide stability of the fracture site without opening and reduce the postoperative complications, were developed. In this paper we document forty two fractures of the humeral shafts that were treated by functional bracing(Group I: 24 cases) and intramedullary fixation with functional bracing(Group II: 18 cases) between October, 1982 and August, 1986. And the obtained results were as follows: 1. The everage healing time was 9 weeks in the Group I, and 11 weeks in the Group II . 2. The non-union has not been encountered in the Group I, but non-union and delayed union were 4 cases (22.2%) in the Group II. 3. The complication rate was 9 cases(37.5%) in the Group I, and was 12 cases(66.7%) in the Group II, but deep infection did not occured in all cases. 4. The residual angulation more than 5 degrees was 20 cases(83.3%) in the Group I, and was 2 cases(11.1%) in the Group Il. However the results of the group Il were inferior ot the group I, of more proper selection of the patients, more accurate technique and adequate type of nails have been used, the better results will be taken.
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Tirantes , Complicaciones PosoperatoriasRESUMEN
The recent trend in method of long bone fracture had been toward bracing or closed medullary nailing except for certain fractures that fall within well-established surigcal criteria. Functional bracing is gaining widespread acceptance in management of tibial, femoral, and forearm fractures and is well suited to humeral shaft fractures. Twenty four cases of humeral shaft fractures were treated with functional brace and early mobiliza tion from October 19S2 to June 1984 at Busan National University Hospital and the results were as follows. 1. The fracture sites were composed of middle third in 15 cases, distal third in 6 cases, and proximal third in 3 cases and the fracture shapes were transverse in 10 cases, oblique and spiral in 5 cases respectively, and comminuted in 4 cases. 2. The average time from injury to functional bracing was 13.0 days and to discontinuance of the functional brace was 9.0 weeks. 3. Nonunions have not been encountered in all cases. The residual angulation was under 20degrees in all but one and the most common deformity was varus in 20 cases. Minimum limitation of motion, mostly a loss of the last few degrees of external rotation, was detected after follow-up of 2 months but did not present any clinical problem. 4. The achievement of rapid and uninterrupted osteogenesis without undesirable functional or cos- metic deficit could be listed as the advantage.