Surgical Treatment of a Distal Fracture using Wolter Clavicular Plates

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of surgical treatment of a distal clavicle fracture using Wolter claviclar plates.
Materials: Sixteen patients with distal clavicle fractures were treated between Febuary 1994 and January 1997. Their mean age at surgery was 39,1 years old. The mean follow-up period was 1 year and 7 months. The fracture types were classified into 10 cases of type II and 6 of type V using Craigs evaluation.
Results: Active evevation of the affected shoulder joint acquired a mean value of 168°. All the patjents had neither postoperative pain nor muscle weakness. A good bony union was obtained in all the cases. The average JOA score was 95.1 points.
Conclusion: Compared with tension band wiring, the Wolter clavicular plate was more advanced and better able to maintain the anatomical repositioning of an unstable distal clavicle fracture, however this method might cause more invasion at an operation or removal. Based on our study, a Wolter clavicular plate seems better suited than the usual method which does not have enough internal fixation because of the small fragments and unstableness.