Functional bracing has been widely accepted as the gold standard for treating humeral shaft fractures conservatively. We conducted a literature review to verify the efficacy of this treatment method. Sixteen case series and two comparative studies fulfilled the criteria set. Analysis of these clinical studies showed that humeral shaft fractures when treated with functional bracing heal in an av...

521 RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY July/August 2007, Vol. 78/No. 6 Radiologic technologists commonly are called to emergency departments to image the humerus. In the United States humeral fractures represent 4% to 5% of all fractures. Corby described fracture patterns in the humerus as being about the same regardless of age; however, older patients with osteoporosis are more susceptible to these types o...

Three of the most common complications that may occur after the treatment of humeral fractures are nonunion, loss of fixation, and nerve injury. Nonunion may occur in up to 15% of patients who have been treated surgically. Loss of fixation often is caused by poor quality bone in the osteopenic humeral head. Nerve injury can occur as a result of trauma or from treatment.

PURPOSE To assess outcomes of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) using a locking compression plate (LCP) for 42 humeral shaft fractures. METHODS. 28 men and 14 women aged 18 to 68 (mean, 34; median, 29) years underwent closed reduction and MIPO using a LCP for type 12-A (n=26) and type 12-B (n=16) humeral shaft fractures. Eight of the patients were aged ≥ 50 years. Patients were fol...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the outcomes of patients with humeral head fractures treated by reduction and osteosynthesis. METHOD A total of 53 shoulders (52 patients) with humeral head fractures were operated between October 1996 and December 2009. Patients previously treated with primary arthroplasty and/or those who had less than two years follow-up were excluded. A total of 34 sho...

BACKGROUND The current consensus in the literature is that the anterolateral branch of the anterior humeral circumflex artery provides the main blood supply to the humeral head. While the artery is disrupted in association with 80% of proximal humeral fractures, resultant osteonecrosis is infrequent. This inconsistency suggests a greater role for the posterior humeral circumflex artery than has...

OBJECTIVE To determine the profile of patients with humeral diaphyseal fractures in a tertiary hospital. METHODS We conducted a survey from January 2010 to July 2012, including data from patients classified under humeral diaphyseal fracture (S42.3) according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The variables analyzed were: age, gender, presence of radial nerve injury, cau...

BACKGROUND The optimal technique for operative fixation of humeral shaft fractures remains controversial and warrants research. OBJECTIVES The purpose of the current study was to compare the functional and clinical outcomes of conventional open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) in patients with fractures in two-third distal humeral shaf...