Functional outcome of intra-articular distal humerus fractures treated with locking compression plates – A prospective study

Abstract

: To evaluate the clinical and functional outcome of intra-articular distal humerus fractures treated with locking compression plates.: A total number of 25 patients with intraarticular fractures of the distal humerus, from March 2021 to September 2022 were enrolled in the study. All patients were subjected to relevant investigations after which were taken up for surgical fixation of the fracture with bicolumnar distal humerus locking compression plates applied in orthogonal configuration through a posterior transolecranon approach. Patients were followed up at intervals of 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months for assessing union and the functional recovery at each follow-up.: The study population consisted of 19 men and 6 women with mean age of 43.08±11.89 years. Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA) were the most common cause of injury accounting for 56% of the cases. Most common fracture pattern was AO 13C2, which was observed in 44% of the cases. Mean duration of the fracture healing was 13.40 ± 1.83 weeks. Mean range of flexion arc was 111.20 ± 14.53 degrees. There were 16 patients with excellent MEPS outcome while six patients had good outcome and three patients had reported fair outcome. There were three cases of joint stiffness though had fair MEPS score. Two cases had superficial skin infection and two cases had reported hardware irritation.: Bi columnar distal humerus locking compression plate is a stable and safe implant for management of intraarticular fractures of distal humerus. The present study shows promising results when the plates are applied in orthogonal configuration through posterior chevron osteotomy approach. A good anatomical fixation allows early mobilization which improves the functional outcome.