A B S T R A C T

Introduction: Proximal humerus fractures are common and debilitating injuries and its incidence is increasing especially in elderly. Fractures of the Proximal Humerus constitute 5% of all fractures. These are third most common fractures in elderly population after hip & distal radius fractures.

Aim: To find out the functional outcome of proximal humerus fractures in patients treated by internal fixation with PHILOS plate by using Neer's score.

Material and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted at department of Orthopaedics in a government hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Sample size calculated was 30 patients.

Results: In the present study mean age of study subjects was 48.57 ± 14.95 years. Most of the patients with proximal humerus fracture undergoing PHILOS plating were males (60%) while 12 (40%) were females. In the present study most of the fracture humerus were of 3 part Neer type (50%), followed by 2 part type (30%) and 4 part type (16.7%), while only 1 (3.3%) patient had Fracture dislocation. All patients aged <30 years showed excellent outcome (100%). Among patients aged 30-49 years, most patients (70.6%) had satisfactory outcome and 17.6% patients had unsatisfactory outcome, only 2 (11.8%) patients had excellent outcome.

Conclusion: The incidence of complications and subsequent re-operation is relatively high. Based on our observations, inadequate positioning of the implant resulted in reduced functional outcome. Hence, to improve functional results, we consider plate positioning to be of utmost importance when using PHILOS plate fixation. Adequate surgical skills and surgeon’s experiences with the surgical technique are necessary to achieve correct implant fixation and avoid these intraoperative errors.