Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluat results of the treatment of clavicle fracture. We treated 70 clavicle fractures in 43 men and 27 women with a mean age of 34.8 years (range: 3 months to 88 years).
There were 52 middle third type fractures and 18 outer third type fractures. 40 patients were treated by the conservative method (using clavicle band), and 30 patients by the surgical method (using plate in 25, tension band wiring in 2 and other methods in 3).
After an average follow-up period of 4 months, patients receiving conservative treatment achieved bone union. But 4 surgically treated patients developed pseudoarthrosis.
Three cases revealed plate breakage (ribon plate). These were young and middle-aged men, suggesting that the ribon plate is not strong enough to fix clavicle fracture in young men.
These results suggested that the ribon plate is useful for clavicle fracture, but their indication must be taken into consideration.
