MutiLoc Nail Versus Philos Plate in Treating Proximal Humeral Fractures: A Retrospective Study Among the Alderly

BACKGROUND: Proximal humeral fractures (PHFs) account for 4–5% of all fractures in the elderly. There is still a controversy among the treatments in the displaced PHFs. Our aim was to explore the clinical outcome of PHFs with the treatment of MultiLoc nail or Philos plate in the elderly patients. METHODS: A total of 82 sustained elderly patients with PHFs were finally recruited between Dec 2016 and Dec 2017. 34 patients were treated with MultiLoc nail and 48 patients were treated with Philos plate. The demographics, fracture types, blood loss, operation time, union time, postoperative complications, visual analog scores (VASs), Constant scores, American Shoulder and Elbow Scores (ASESs), and neck-shaft-angle (NSA) between the two groups were compared. RESULTS: No differences were observed in the demographics, fracture types, VAS, Constant scores, and ASES scores between the two groups at final follow-up. Compared with the plate group, the blood loss, operation time, and union time were significantly lower in the nail group (all P < .05). The rate of general complications was 54.17% in the plate group, which was higher than that in the nail group (26.47%, P = .01). Three patients experienced reoperation in the plate group (3/48; 6.25%), but none in the nail group. Although there were no significant differences in intraoperative NSA between the two groups, the NSA at final follow-up in the nail group was much higher than the plate group (137.55 ± 5.53°vs 134.47 ± 5.92°, P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Multiloc intramedullary nail showed the similar effectiveness of final VAS, final Constant scores, and ASES scores in PHFs treatment with Philos plate. However, MultiLoc nail is superior to Philos plate in blood loss, operation time, complications, reoperation rate, and the change of NSA.