Results of a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial comparing plate fixation with intramedullary pin fixation for treatment of displaced mid-shaft clavicle fractures showed early DASH scores favored the plated group. However, there were no significant differences between groups at the final postoperative follow-up.
“There were no differences in shoulder function at 6 months and 1 year postoperatively,” researcher, Frans-Jasper G. Wijdicks, PhD, of the department of surgery at Diakonessenhuis in Utrecht, The Netherlands, said at the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting. “We [saw] a faster recovery until 6 months postoperatively in the plate fixation group, and complications were mainly implant-related.”
Wijdicks and colleagues studied 120 patients randomly assigned to undergo either plate fixation or intramedullary pin fixation at one of four teaching hospitals in The Netherlands who also had 1 year of follow-up after surgery.
Although the type of plate used for the fixation was at the surgeon’s discretion, a superior approach was used in all 58 plate fixation cases, Wijdicks said.
