[Assessment of patients with distal radius fracture treated with percutaneous fixation]

The trend in distal radius fracture is towards open reduction and internal fixation; however, treatment with closed reduction and percutaneous nailing continues to provide good results, but physical therapy and appropriate early rehabilitation are needed.

We assessed patients with distal radius fractures treated with reduction with percutaneous maneuvers and nailing; we used clinical functional scales, like the DASH, the Mayo Clinic wrist scale, and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to assess pain. Patient results were compared at 12 and 24 weeks. We also compared patients with and without rehabilitation.

A total of 60 patients were assessed using the DASH scale; patients with rehabilitation had a score of 4.3, while those without rehabilitation had a score of 10.5 (p = 0.00001). In the Mayo Clinic scale, patients with rehabilitation had a score of 86.7, while those without rehabilitation had a score of 77.8 (p = 0.00001). The VAS was not significant.

All patients showed improvement in their clinical assessment scales. However, when patients with and without rehabilitation are compared, the difference was greater in the Mayo Clinic scale and in the DASH scale.