[Minimally invasive surgical treatment of acromioclavicular dislocations]

Treatment of grade III Rockwood acromioclavicular lesions continues to be controversial. A new surgical technique for reduction using minimally invasive surgery provides good results. The purpose of this paper is to present the short and medium-term results of a series of patients with grade III acromioclavicular dislocations who underwent surgery.

Prospective assessment of a series of 14 patients with acromioclavicular dislocation who underwent surgery from May 2009 to June 2010 consisting of open reduction and synthesis with coracoclavicular fixation with a double anchor. Radiologic, functional and personal satisfaction parameters were assessed.

Statistically significant radiologic results were obtained, which reflect a correct reduction. An "excellent" mean score was obtained in the functional assessment using the Imatani test. Patients reported subjective satisfaction during the interviews at the outpatient visits.

There are only a few papers reporting postoperative results with this surgical technique. Without a control group it is not possible to make a comparison with orthopedic treatment, so comparisons were made with published series using classical techniques. The surgical technique provides similar results; it is simple, inexpensive and has not shown to have any postoperative complications during a mean follow-up of 13.7 months. Surgical treatment of grade III acromioclavicular lesions using this surgical technique has provided appropriate results in this group of patients.