[Dislocation of the clavicle: case report]

A traumatic dislocation of the clavicle is a rare injury. So far 37 reports of this trauma have been found in the relevant literature; they are most often treated by surgery. A 32-year-old woman was admitted to local hospital for polytraumata sustained in a motor car accident. Once the patient had been stabilised, at three months after injury, stabilisation of the left dislocated clavicle was undertaken. The medial end was stabilised, using a strip dissected from the ligament of the sternoclavicular (SC) joint capsule, with Orthocord sutures, and laterally by coracoacromial ligament transfer (Weaver and Dunn technique) and K-wire fixation through the acromioclavicular (AC) articulation. The K-wire was removed 10 weeks after stabilisation. At 6 months after the repair surgery, the patient was free of any complaint, with no motion restriction and with good configuration of the SC and AC joints. The mean scores according to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) rating system were 14 points before surgery and 28 points at 6 months after surgery; the mean Constant scores were 56 and 92 at the respective intervals. The clinical outcome of surgical stabilisation in this patient was very good. She had no signs of instability and no restriction of motion at the joints treated.