Single-institution case series from the Edinburgh Shoulder Clinic reporting complications and long-term patient-reported outcomes of ORIF with plate fixation for severely displaced proximal humeral fractures and fracture-dislocations, drawn from 5,897 consecutive fracture patients over 18 years, with median 10.8-year follow-up.
When consenting a medically fit patient with a Neer 3- or 4-part fracture, fracture-dislocation, or complete head-shaft disengagement for ORIF, counsel them that stiffness requiring arthrolysis occurs in nearly 1 in 4 but is reversible, while true implant failure or arthroplasty conversion is uncommon (<10%) — and that smokers and patients with medical comorbidities face meaningfully higher risk of obligate reoperation.
Single-institution case series from the Edinburgh Shoulder Clinic reporting complications and long-term patient-reported outcomes of ORIF with plate fixation for severely displaced proximal humeral fractures and fracture-dislocations, drawn from 5,897 consecutive fracture patients over 18 years, with median 10.8-year follow-up.
When consenting a medically fit patient with a Neer 3- or 4-part fracture, fracture-dislocation, or complete head-shaft disengagement for ORIF, counsel them that stiffness requiring arthrolysis occurs in nearly 1 in 4 but is reversible, while true implant failure or arthroplasty conversion is uncommon (<10%) — and that smokers and patients with medical comorbidities face meaningfully higher risk of obligate reoperation.