Faaiz Ali Shah, Zulfiqar Ali Durrani, Asmat Ullah, Kifayat Ullah, Haziq Dad Khan, Zahir Khan.
Fracture shaft of humerus treated with a functional brace.
J Pak Orthop Assoc Jan ;25(3):15-9.

Objectives: To determine the clinical and radiographic outcome of patients treated with functional bracing for humeral shaft fractures. Study Design: Descriptive case series Place and Duration: Orthopaedic Surgery Unit, Mardan Medical Complex Teaching Hospital, Bacha Khan Medical College, Mardan, KPK from April 2012 to September 2013. Material and Methods: Fifteen patients mean age 43 years (range 18 to 67 years) with fractures shaft of humerus meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were initially stabilized with plaster of paris U-slab for two weeks followed by the application of a functional brace. Clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed weekly for the first four weeks after the start of brace application, and then every two weeks. Functional evaluation was performed according to Hunter criteria .Radiographic evaluation was performed by taking the formation of healing tissue, anterior/posterior, lateral, and rotational angulations, and shortening into consideration. Results: Majority (n=13, 86.6%) of the patients achieved union after a mean of 14 weeks (range 12 to 20 weeks).Two(13.3%) fractures failed to unite and were subsequently treated with surgery. Nine (69.2%) patients were evaluated functionally as excellent (G5) according to Hunter criteria while four (30.7%) evaluated as good (G3-G4).The mean varus-valgus angulation was 9 degrees while mean anterior posterior angulation was 10 degrees in patients who had union with functional bracing. One (7.6%) patient had shortening of 2 centimeter whose fracture was united with bracing. Conclusion: Fractures shaft of humerus treated with a functional brace gave a high rate of union with excellent functional results.

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