Intramedullary Screw Fixation Versus Plate in Completely Displaced Midshaft Clavicle Fractures ?

Clavicle fractures are common, accounting for about 4% of all fractures, of which 80% occur in the middle third of the bone and occur typically in younger patients, posing a burden for this active population. Traditionally, non-operative treatment with a sling was standard care, however, increasing rates of fixation are now being reported.

Currently, the main procedure for surgical treatment of clavicular fractures is internal fixation with a plate. Plates provide reliable and secure fixation, but require a long incision and usually have to be removed in a second operation. In a meta-analysis of controlled randomized trials conducted by Woltz, the overall rate of secondary intervention in the plate fixation group was elevated at 17.6%, of which 58.9% was for implant removal.

Fuglesang assessed in a randomized controlled trial the functional results of plate fixation versus intramedullary nailing of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures and found that there was no significant difference between the two treatments courses at twelve months and QuickDASH and Constant Score were both excellent in the two groups. They noticed that recovery was faster with plate fixation (QuickDASH significantly better and clinically relevant (inferior by 8.7 points) at 5 weeks of follow-up and QuickDASH and Constant Score significantly better between 6 weeks and 6 months of follow-up).

They highlighted a significant higher rate of complications when a 2mm diameter nail was used for patients with peropertively discovery of narrow medullary canal. Thus, they suggested a conversion to open reduction and internal fixation with a plate when a 2.5 mm nail may not be used. Morever, they showed that degree of comminution was a strong predictor factor of functional results. The more comminution, the higher were the Quick-DASH and DASH scores during the first six months in the intramedullary nailing group. Plating appeared to be able to negate the effect of comminution when bridging the fracture and concluded that in the presence of comminution, plating may be the superior option.

Sun conducted a retrospective study comparing minimally invasive intramedullary fixation with cannulated screws versus plate fixation and showed that time to union was significantly lower in cannulated screw group (13.2 ± 6.9 weeks versus 16.3 ± 8.7 weeks in the plate fixation group) but there was no subsequent significant difference in Neer shoulder activity score between the two groups. Thus, the clinically significance is yet to be assessed.