Background: Fractures of proximal humerus are very common. Many options are available for its management including non-operative management. Reconstruction of the articular surfaces including restoration of the anatomy and a stable fixation with minimal soft tissue damage is the main principle of this procedure. Percutaneous pinning is the less invasive, less time consuming and reliable procedure and avoids complications such as avascular necrosis, infections and heavy weight bearing implants. Aims and Objectives: 1. To study the clinical profile of adult patients with proximal humeral fractures. 2. To study the functional outcome of closed reduction and percutaneous pinning of proximal humeral fractures. 3. To study the factors affecting functional outcome of proximal humeral fractures. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study among 32 patients on whom percutaneous pinning was done after closed reduction for the fractures of proximal humerus. This study was conducted from August 2014 to December 2016. Results: According to Neer's functional assessment score the functional outcome was excellent in 18 (56.3%) patients, satisfactory in 6 (18.8%) patients, unsatisfactory in 7 (21.9%) patients and failure in 1 (3.1%) patient. Conclusion: Percutaneous pinning is simple, less invasive, reliable and effective procedure. It reduces risk of heavy implant bearing, infection and avascular necrosis.
The most common orthopaedic injuries related to falls and road traffic accidents are fractures. Mostly these are hip fractures, distal radial fractures and the fractures of humerus. Proximal humerus fractures represent approximately 4% of all the fractures. Increased number falls and increased prevalence of osteoporosis leads to more number of cases of proximal humerus fractures. In elderly patients the most common mechanism of injury in proximal humeral fractures is a fall from standing height onto an outstretched upper extremity. In patients less than 50 years of age, high energy trauma like motor vehicle accidents and falls from significant heights or athletic injuries are the most common causes for these fractures.In our study, we evaluated 50 cases of proximal humerus fractures treated at department of orthopaedics of a medical college and tertiary care institute. Patients were treated with closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. Neer's functional assessment was used for post-operative functional assessment of these cases. Majority of the patients were from the age group of 41-60 years (50%), 56% were males while 44% were females. Most of the patients had right sided humeral fractures (62%). Commonest mode of injury in these patients was fall (68%), while rest of the patients (32%) had road traffic accidents. Majority of the patients (66%) required 10-12 weeks for union of fractures, the mean time of union being 10.63 weeks. 2 -Part Neer's type patients contributed 56% of the study population. 75% of the patients did not have any complication. Only one patient experienced failure of fracture healing, while most of the patients (56%) had excellent functional outcome.
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