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Hardware Location and Clinical Outcome in Ulna Shortening Osteotomy
Kai Megerle1, Susanne Hellmich1, Günter Germann1
1Clinic for Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Plastic Surgery, Evangelical Hospital Göttingen-Weende, Göttingen, Germany; Clinic for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery and Preventive Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Ethianum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Department for Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, BG Unfallklinik Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
Unlabelled:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of plate location during ulna shortening osteotomy on the incidence of hardware irritation and clinical outcome.
Methods:
Forty patients (17 women, 23 men; mean age, 47 years) who underwent a shortening osteotomy of the ulna due to idiopathic ulna impaction syndrome were examined after a mean of 36 months. All complications and secondary procedures were extracted from the patients' records.
Results:
The rate of hardware removal was higher in patients who had a dorsal placement of the plate in comparison with ulnar or palmar placements, although this difference was not statistically significant. Apart from hardware irritation, there were 4 nonunions, 1 secondary osteoarthritis of the distal radioulnar joint, and 1 case of chronic irritation of the dorsal branch of the ulnar nerve, which required secondary surgery. The incidence of secondary surgery other than hardware removal was not significantly related to the original location of the plate.
Conclusions:
Secondary surgery after ulnar shortening osteotomy is common. However, we found no difference in clinical outcomes based on plate location.
