REVIEW ARTICLE
Challenges and Solutions in Management of Distal Humerus Fractures
Saif Ul Islam*, Alexander William Glover, Mohammad Waseem
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 1292
Last Page: 1307
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-11-1292
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711011292
Article History:
Received Date: 10/09/2017Revision Received Date: 02/10/2017
Acceptance Date: 05/10/2017
Electronic publication date: 13/11/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Management of distal humerus fractures remains a challenge for trauma surgeons and advancements in treatment options continue to be made to achieve the best results for patients presenting with these complex fractures. Our aim in this article is to provide the surgeons with a detailed review of current literature to help them make an evidence based decision when faced with managing such complex injuries in their surgical practice.
Methods:
This is a comprehensive review of the current literature that details various aspects of distal distal humerus fractures such as classification, surgical anatomy, surgical approaches, treatment options, choices of devices, outcomes and complications.
Results:
With the advancements in techniques and equipment, there has been improvement in patients’ outcomes following surgical management of these fractures and a large proportion of these patients are able to achieve pre-injury level of function. The contoured locking plates have enabled successful fixation of many of these fractures that were previously considered unfixable. For those not amenable to surgical fixation, total elbow arthroplasty and elbow hemiarthroplasty are considered as good alternatives.
Conclusion:
Since the days where the ‘bag of bones’ technique was the preferred method of treating these complex injuries, techniques and outcomes have advanced greatly. However, they still present a significant technical challenge and need meticulous technique and experience to achieve optimal results.
