Ananthula Krishna Reddy1, V. Prashanth2
Proximal humeral fractures account for about 5% of all injuries to the appendicular skeleton. The majority of proximal humeral fractures are either un-displaced or minimally displaced which can be managed conservatively. Only 20% of proximal humeral fractures need surgical intervention. Many surgical techniques have been described. Over the last 3 decades, various modalities of fixations have been evolved for the treatment of these injuries (trans-osseous suturing, percutaneous pinning, tension band wiring, plating, nailing, arthroplasty). The proximal humerus internal locking system (PHILOS) plate, a fixed-angle construct has been developed to maintain angular stability under load and to improve screw fixation in osteoporotic bones. In our study 29 patients with unstable proximal humerus fractures were treated with open reduction and internal fixation using PHILOS plate. In 85% of cases the results were excellent to good. In this study, we observed that the locking compression plate is an advantageous implant in the treatment of these cases due to its angular stability particularly in comminuted fractures and in osteoporotic bones.
