Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1195263
Surgery May Be Unnecessary for Certain Humerus Fractures, Study Finds SURGICAL AND NONSURGICAL TRE ATMENTS OFFER SIMIL AR FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES FOR ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH T WO-PART PROXIMAL HUMERUS FR ACTURES, ACCORDING TO A MULTINATIONAL RESE ARCH GROUP. SURGICAL PROCEDURE S TO implant locking plates for the treatment of those fractures produce no clinically significant benefit over nonoperative treatment among patients ages 60 or older at two-year follow-up, according to findings from the Nordic Innovative Trial to Evaluate osteoPorotic Fractures (NITEP) group. The group's study, the first randomized controlled trial to examine surgical and nonsurgical treatment methods for two-part proximal humerus fractures, was published in PLOS Medicine. "Randomized controlled studies comparing [locking plate procedures] and nonoperative treatments have been published only recently," says Aleksi Reito, MD, PhD, NITEP researcher at the Central Finland Central Hospital. "There is no prior randomized controlled trial comparing nonoperative treatment and locking plate procedures for two-part fractures in this age group. However, our results are in line with previous studies investigating three- or four-part fractures." Indeed, a prior study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma found that patients ages 60 or older with three- or four-part humerus fractures exhibited no functional outcome differences a year after their treatment was completed. Studies like these may help physicians better determine when surgery is indicated for addressing such fractures. "[The NITEP] study certainly builds upon research that I've done previously," says Addie Majed, BSc, FRCS (T&O), Dip BY JOSH GARCIA 1 4❱❱❱❱❱ S P E C I A L C L I N I C A L F E A T U R E