Abstract
Background: This retrospective comparative study aims to evaluate the surgical outcomes and complications of two surgical methods for simple fractures of the humeral shaft; minimally invasive anterior plating and open reduction combined with internal fixation. Methods: A total of 26 patients with humeral shaft simple fractures, who had surgery between June 2009 and September 2013 and were followed-up at least 12 months, were included in our analysis. They were divided into two groups; group 1 comprised of 12 patients who underwent minimally invasive anterior plating and group 2 comprised of 14 patients who underwent an open reduction and internal fixation. The clinical outcomes, radiological results, and complications were compared and analyzed. Results: We found that bone union was achieved in all patients, and the mean union periods were $20.7{\pm}3.34$ and $20.3{\pm}3.91$ weeks for groups 1 and 2, respectively. In most patients, we found that shoulder and elbow functions were recovered. At 12 months post-operation, we found that the Korean Shoulder Scoring system, the University of California at Los Angeles score and Mayo elbow performance score were $91.4{\pm}7.97$, $33.4{\pm}1.15$, and $90.8{\pm}2.23$ for group 1, and $95.2{\pm}1.53$, $33.3{\pm}1.43$, and $90.17{\pm}1.85$ for group 2. In terms of complications, we found that 2 patients had radial nerve palsy after open reduction and internal fixation, but all cases spontaneously resolved within 6 months. Complications such as infection and loss of fixation were not reported. Conclusions: Both minimally invasive anterior plating and open reduction with internal fixation produced satisfactory outcomes in the treatment of simple fractures of the humeral shaft.