Clinical effect of anterolateral minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis in treatment of middle-distal humeral shaft fracture / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) through anterolateral approach in treatment of middle-distal humeral shaft fracture.Methods:A retrospective case series study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 21 patients with middle-distal humeral shaft fracture admitted to 7th Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from August 2015 to March 2018, including 12 males and 9 females, aged 18-68 years [(31.3±3.6)years]. All were closed fracture. According to AO classification, the fracture were classified as type A in 6 patients, type B in 10 and type C in 5. All patients were treated with anterolateral minimally invasive plate fixation. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss and hospital stay were recorded. The fracture healing was observed after operation. The visual analogue scale (VAS), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) shoulder rating scale, and Mayo elbow performance score (MEPS) were used to evaluate the effectiveness before operation and at 2 weeks, 3 months and 12 months after operation.Results:All patients were followed up for 12-26 months [(18.2±2.4)months]. The operation time was 50-82 minutes [(68.2±19.4)minutes], with intraoperative blood loss of 40-95 ml [(60.2±21.3)ml]. The hospital stay was 6-16 days [(6.8±1.2)days]. There was no iatrogenic vascular or nerve injury during operation. The patients with radial nerve injury before operation were all adventitia contusion. The nerve function returned to normal within 3 months after operation. All fractures were healed within 5-10 months [(5.3±1.2)months]. At 2 weeks, 3 months and 12 months after operation, the VAS [(3.6±0.8)points, (2.1±0.4)points, (1.8±0.3)points] was lower than that before operation [(8.3±1.6)points] ( P<0.05); UCLA shoulder rating scale [(31.2±1.5)points, (33.6±0.8)points, (34.6±0.5)points] was higher than that before operation [(28.4±2.3)points] ( P<0.05); and MEPS [(80.2±3.4)points, (93.4±2.2)points, (96.4±3.5)points] was higher than that before operation [(60.5±4.5)points] ( P<0.05). At the last follow-up, the UCLA shoulder rating scale and MEPS showed excellent results. Conclusion:For middle and lower humeral shaft fracture especially for the fracture line relatively distal to the shaft, MIPO technique through anterolateral approach can attain satisfactory results in terms of pain, range of motion of shoulder and elbow joint, and joint function.