Humerus shaft fracture associated with traumatic radial nerve palsy: An international survey among orthopedic trauma surgeons from Latin America and Asia/Pacific

• Main Authors: Vincenzo Giordano, William Belangero, Robinson Esteves Pires, Pedro José Labronici
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-08-01
• Series: Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2309499017727914

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore the real-life practice of clinical management of humeral shaft fracture associated with traumatic radial nerve palsy among orthopedic trauma surgeons. Methods: Two hundred seventy-nine orthopedic surgeons worldwide reviewed 10 real cases of a humeral shaft fracture associated with traumatic radial nerve palsy answering two questions: (1) What treatment would you choose/recommend: nonoperative or operative? (2) What are the reasons for your decision-making? The survey was developed in an online survey tool. All participants were active members from AOTrauma International. Results: Two hundred sixty-six (95.3%) participants were from Latin America and Asia/Pacific. One hundred sixty-two participants (58.1%) had more than 10 years in practice and 178 (63.8%) of them did trauma as the main area of interest. One hundred fifty-one (54.1%) participants treated less than three humeral shaft fractures a month. Traumatic radial nerve palsy was the main reason (88.4%) for surgeons to recommend surgical treatment. Open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) or percutaneous fixation of the fracture associated with acutely explore of radial nerve was the first option in 62.0% of the cases. A combination of morphology and level of the fracture and the presence of the radial nerve palsy was the most suggested reason to surgically treat the humerus fracture. The main isolated factor was the morphology of the fracture. Conclusion: Our survey highlight the tendency for a more aggressive management of any humeral shaft fracture associated with a traumatic radial nerve palsy, with surgeons preferring to use ORIF with acute exploration of the radial nerve. Nonsurgical management was the less chosen option among the 279 respondents. Fracture morphology, level of the fracture, and the presence of the radial nerve palsy were most influential for guiding their treatment.