Abstract
We prospectively assessed clinical and radiological outcomes of locking plate fixation in treating unstable fractures in 11 metacarpals, 15 proximal phalanges, and eight middle phalanges in 34 consecutive patients from October 2011 to December 2016. Median length of follow-up was 14 months (range 12–24). The motion of finger joints, bony union, and complication rates were recorded. The median postoperative range of motion of the two interphalangeal joints and the metacarpophalangeal joint was 82% of the contralateral hands. Fractures in the three locations had significantly different recovery of the finger motion, with the best recovery for the metacarpal fractures. Closer distance between the plate edge and joint line was associated with a more limited range of the finger motion. The clinical outcomes approached an acceptable level at final follow-up. Finger stiffness is unavoidable after locking plate fixation of metacarpal and phalangeal fractures even with early hand therapy, with stiffness occurring in 10 out of 34 cases at the time of final follow-up 1 year after surgery.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
