DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2018.v06i01.012

Pages: 90-100

Proximal humeral fractures constitute about 5 percent of all upper extremity fractures. It is the 3rd most common fracture in patients over the age of 65 years. Thus 65 percent of these fractures occur in patient above the age of 60 years. The female: male ratio is 3:1 and the incidence of this fracture increases with age. In the older patients, the mechanism of injury is low energy trauma. Hence therapists usually categorize these fractures under FOOSH injuries. Since majority of those sustaining these types of fractures have osteoporotic bone, operative treatment with locking compression plate has become the gold standard. The aim of this study is to analyse prospectively 30 cases of proximal humeral peri-articular fractures occurring in the osteoporotic bone of the elderly in the age group of 60 to 79 years trelated surgically with PHILOS plating. It is to study their radiological and functional outcome score and clinical outcomes and then to compare it with published literature. Also comparison shall be made as to the time elapsed from injury to surgery, surgery duration, loss of blood during surgery, post-op complications and time required for radiological bony union. In our series, the clinical outcome assessed as per Constant Shoulder Score achieved 40% fair, 40% good and 16.67% excellent results. We had 3.3% of poor outcomes. Our study concludes that LCP should be considered as a gold standard in treating displaced peri-articular proximal humeral fractures in the elderly with osteoporotic bone.