Surgical versus non‐surgical interventions for treating humeral shaft fractures in adults

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012

Surgical versus non-surgical interventions for treating humeral shaft fractures in adults - The Cochrane Library - Gosler - Wiley Online Library from LOGIN Enter e-mail address Enter password REMEMBER ME > > > > DATABASE TOOLS DATABASE MENU FIND ARTICLES OTHER RESOURCES Intervention Review You have full text access to this content Surgical versus non-surgical interventions for treating humeral shaft fractures in adults Maurits W Gosler 1,* , Mark Testroote 1 , JW Morrenhof 2 , Heinrich MJ Janzing 3 Editorial Group: Published Online: 18 JAN 2012 Assessed as up-to-date: 24 OCT 2011 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008832.pub2 Copyright © 2012 The Cochrane Collaboration.
Publication History Publication Status: New Published Online: 18 JAN 2012 SEARCH ARTICLE TOOLS Abstract Abstract Background Fractures of the shaft of the humerus account for 1% to 3% of all fractures in adults.
Objectives To assess and compare the effects of surgical versus non-surgical intervention for non-pathological fractures of the humeral shaft in adults.
Selection criteria Considered for inclusion were all randomised and quasi-randomised (method of allocating participants to a treatment which is not strictly random; e.g.
by date of birth, hospital record number or alternation) controlled trials that compared surgical with non-surgical intervention for humeral shaft fractures in adults.
Data collection and analysis Two authors independently selected and assessed potential eligible studies for inclusion.
After scrutiny, we excluded all six studies: five were retrospective studies and one was a prospective study without randomisation.
We identified three potentially eligible ongoing studies, two of which involve randomisation of treatment allocation and one, which we excluded, that does not.
Authors' conclusions There is no evidence available from randomised controlled trials to ascertain whether surgical intervention of humeral shaft fractures gives a better or worse outcome than no surgery.
Sufficiently powered good quality multi-centre randomised controlled trials comparing surgical versus non-surgical interventions for treating humeral shaft fractures in adults are needed.
It is likely that the results from the two ongoing randomised trials on this topic will help inform practice in due course.