Operative vs conservative treatment in distal radius fractures: A protocol

BACKGROUND: Given this lack of conclusive outcome data, there are currently no clear guidelines to direct the treatment of displaced distal radius fractures in the elderly. This retrospective clinical trial was performed to compare the outcomes of two methods that were used for the treatment of displaced and unstable distal radial fractures in patients 65 years of age or older: (1).. open reduction internal fixation with use of a volar locking plate and (2).. closed reduction and plaster immobilization (casting). METHODS: This study was performed and reported in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology checklist. Between January 2017 and May 2018, a total of 184 patients who presented to Huzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital with distal radius fractures were extracted from the hospital database and evaluated for eligibility. This retrospective cohort study was approved by the institutional review board in our hospital. Outcome measures included Patient-Related Wrist Evaluation score, patient satisfaction, complications, and radiographic outcomes. SPSS software package (version 21.0; SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL) was used for all statistical analyses. RESULTS: The hypothesis was that the two groups would achieve similar functional scores and complications in distal radial fractures. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study protocol was registered in Research Registry (researchregistry5689).