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Radiologic followup may not be needed for proximal humerus fractures in young patients
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Despite a new trend in the literature for surgery for proximal humerus fractures in adolescent patients, researchers recently reported there is no need to increase the surgical rates for the management of these fractures because they are stable and benign and there is no need for additional radiographic follow-up after the initial intervention.
Tuomas Lähdeoja, MD, of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues conducted a short-term retrospective study of children 10 years to 16 years old who were treated for proximal humeral fractures between 1995 and 2005. They set out to clarify the need for follow-up appointments for these adolescents to determine the stability of their fractures.
“The take-home message is that once an adequate treatment decision has been made based on good quality initial X-rays and sufficient expertise, these fractures do not dislocate during follow-up, based on our 230 fractures, and hence routine X-ray follow up is not useful,” Lähdeoja told Orthopaedics Today Europe.
Click here to read the full story in the November/December Issue of Orthopaedics Today Europe.