Abstract
We reviewed a series of twenty-two patients who had a fracture of the shaft of the clavicle treated by open reduction through a small skin incision and intramedullary fixation with an ACE cannulated cancellous screw (5mm in diameter). There were seventeen male and five female patients. The average age of the patients was forty-six years (range, fifteen to eighty-nine years). The average duration of follow-up was nine months (range, three to twenty-four months). All patients achieved clinical and radiographic union eventually, although delayed union occurred in one (4.5 percent) of them, and redisplacement in another (4.5 percent). There were no neurovascular complications or infections. Intramedullary fixation has several advantages compared with other treatments, such as percutaneous pinning or fixation with a plate and screws. It can be performed through a cosmetically acceptable small incision; the pain can be relieved immediately after operation; and, after healing, the screw can be extracted through a small incision under local anesthesia and/or brachial plexus block.
