Iatrogenic fractures following treatment of type 12-A humeral shaft fractures with antegrade in-tramedullary nails / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the iatrogenic fractures following treatment of type 12-A humeral shaft fractures with antegrade intramedullary nails. Methods We reviewed the patients who had been treated with antegrade intramedullary nails for type 12-A humeral shaft fracture from October 2006 to March 2017. They were 13 males and 13 females with an age range from 22 to 76 years and an average age of 44. 5 years. Six of them were complicated with other fractures or radial nerve injury. We divided the patients into an iatrogenic fracture ( IF ) group and a non-iatrogenic fracture ( NIF ) group and compared gender, age, fracture type, reaming and nonunion between the 2 groups. Results The follow-up time for the 26 patients ranged from 13 to 182 weeks ( 63. 8 weeks on average ) . Of them, 7 suffered iatrogenic fracture and 4 nonunion. The union time for the other 22 patients ranged from 9 to 29 weeks ( 14. 6 weeks on average ) . All the 7 patients in the iatrogenic fracture group were treated with reaming while only 9 of the 19 patients in the non-iatrogenic fracture group were treated with reaming. Nonunion occurred in 3 patients in the iatrogenic fracture group but in only one patient in the non-iatrogenic fracture group. All the above comparisons were statistically significant between the 2 groups ( P < 0. 05 ) but there were no significant differences in comparisons between the 2 groups regarding gender, age, nail diameter, fracture type, way of locking proximal and distal screws or rate of secondary surgery ( P > 0. 05 ) . Conclusions Antegrade intramedullary nailing may cause an iatro-genic fracture in the treatment of type12-A humeral shaft fractures. The iatrogenic fracture may affect fracture union. Intraoperative reaming may be the risk factor for the iatrogenic fracture.