Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine
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Orthop J Sports Med · Sep 2017
A Biomechanical and Clinical Comparison of Midshaft Clavicle Plate Fixation: Are 2 Screws as Good as 3 on Each Side of the Fracture?
The standard of care for plating displaced midshaft clavicle fractures has been 6 cortices of purchase on each side of the fracture. The use of locking plates and screws may afford equivalent biomechanical strength with fewer cortices of purchase on each side of the fracture. ⋯ Clinical benefits of using the 3-screw construct for plate fixation include decreased surgical exposure, morbidity, and cost, and the use of shorter and noncontoured straight plates eliminates the extra time and technical difficulty associated with matching longer contoured plates to the complex morphology of the clavicle.