[Resection of the acromial and sternal end of the clavicle]

The causes of complaints in the acromioclavicular joint include arthrosis after dislocation of the joint, metastases, polyarthritis, tuberculosis, or hyperparathyroidism. Some causes have not yet been identified. If conservative therapy is unsuccessful the condition may be treated by resection of the acromial end of the clavicular, as first described by Gurd and Mumford. The present paper reports the results obtained in 22 patients who were followed up. Complete freedom from pain was achieved in 59% of the cases and improvement in 23.7%, while in 13.6% the results had to be classified as unchanged or poor. An analysis of these results admits the conclusion that with restricted indication and in particular in post-traumatic conditions, it is certainly possible to achieve results which make this technically simple procedure the treatment of choice in arthrosis of the acromioclavicular joint; this is borne out by the literature. In much rarer cases, changes in the sternoclavicular joint have to be surgically treated. Here also, the majority of cases are post-traumatic changes, and here again most of them are conditions following anterior luxation. Analogously to resection at the acromial end of the clavicula, a resection at its sternal end may also produce successful results. With reference to three of the authors' own cases, the clinical picture is considered and the results are presented and discussed; however, since the various surgical techniques cannot be compared, a final evaluation is only possible to a limited extent.