ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical significance of preserving supraclavicular nerve in the reduction and fixation of clavicular fracture.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted of the 68 pa-tients with clavicular fracture who had been treated surgically from October 2016 to April 2018 at Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Heyuan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.They were 35 males and 33 females, aged from 25 to 45 years (average, 34.8 years).The supraclavicular nerve was preserved in the re-duction and fixation of clavicular fracture in 32 patients (reservation group) but not in the other 36 ones (control group).The 2 groups were compared in terms of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, fracture healing time; postoperative pain tolerance, feeling (by the British Medical Research Council assessment), shoulder function (by the Constant-Murley scoring) and impact of numbness on life.Results:The 2 groups were compatible due to insignificant differences in the general clinical data between them ( P>0.05).All the 68 patients were followed up for 12 to 26 months (average, 15 months).There was no significant difference between the 2 groups either in intraoperative blood loss or fracture healing time ( P>0.05).The preservation group had significant longer operation time (72.6 min±7.2 min) than the control group (47.3 min±7.4 min), but a significantly lower rate of analgesic usage on the postoperative day [6.3%(2/32)] than the control group [91.7%(33/36)] (both P<0.05).By the British Medical Research Council assessment, the postoperative feeling was rated as S3 or S4 in 93.8%(30/32) of the patients in the preservation group, significantly higher than the 72.2% (26/36) of the control group ( P<0.05).The preservation group was also significantly better than the control group in Constant-Murley scores of the injured shoulder [100.0 (93.5, 100.0) versus 87.0 (81.0, 89.0)] and impact of numbness on life [0 versus 50.0%(18/36)] (both P<0.05). Conclusion:In surgical treatment of clavicular fracture, preservation of the supraclavicular nerve can have a positive effect on reducing postoperative pain in the operative area and impact of numbness on life.