Treatment Efficiency Of Proximal Humeral Fractures Involving Humeral Shaft Fractures With Long Locking Plates Versus Locking Intramedullary Nails

Objective: Compare the prognosis of the long locking plates and locking intramedullary nails in the treatment of proximal humeral fractures involving humeral shaft fractures.Method: A retrospective analysis was performed on thirty two proximal humeral fractures involving humeral shaft fractures patients treated with either locking plates(n= 14)or locking intramedullary nails(n= 18).The objective patients data and the final follow-up data were analyzed to assess the prognosis of these two different fixation methods.Results: 14 long locking plates patients and 18 locking intramedullary nails patients with a mean follow-up period of 13.5 months were analyzed.Significant difference was found with regard to the length of incision,operative time,and blood loss during operation(P<0.05).There were no differences(P>0.05)in the length of hospitalization,bone union time and the final neck-shaft angle.For the final follow-up data,there were no significant differences between the long locking plates group and locking intramedullary nails group in the Constant-Murley scores and VAS scores(P>0.05),while the long locking plates were better.For the average strength of the supraspinatus,the long locking plates was better and had significant difference(P<0.05).For the average strength of deltoid muscle,the locking intramedullary nails was better but had no significant difference.(P>0.05).Conclusion: For proximal humeral fractures involving humeral shaft fractures,both locking plates and locking intramedullary nails fixation methods could achieve satisfactory results.The locking intramedullary nails group was minimally invasive,while the long locking plates group was superior in the the average strength of the supraspinatus at an average of one year follow-up.