Functional Outcome of Surgical Management of Metacarpal Fracture in Adults

Objective

The aim of the present study was to assess the functional outcome of surgical management of metacarpal fracture in adults.

Methods

A prospective observational study was conducted from February 2019 to January 2020 among 29 metacarpal bone fracture patients attending at orthopedic surgery department, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong after obtaining requisite consent from the patient. Data were collected through the assessment and X-ray report of patients in the orthopedic surgery Department. The collected data were entered into the computer and analyzed by using SPSS (version 20.1) to assess the functional outcome of surgical management of metacarpal fracture in adults.

Results

Most of the study population (89.7%) was in 18-40 years of age group. The mean age of the patients was 33.14 ± 11.895 years (range: 18-70 years). In case of method of fixation, maximum (65.5%) patient’s fixations were done by mini plate, 31% were by K-wire and 3.4% were by both K-wire & lag screw. Out of 29 patients, 14 (48.3%) patients needed 6 weeks for radiological union and 03 (10.3%) patient needed 8 weeks. At 6th week follow-up, 16 (55.2%) patients had good and 13 (44.8%) patients had fair outcome, at 12th week follow-up, 16 (59.3%) patients had excellent outcome and at 24th week final follow-up, excellent outcome was in 25 (92.6%) patients.

Conclusion

Surgical stabilization of metacarpal fractures of the hand seems to give good functional outcome.