Osteosintesi percutanea con chiodini elastici nelle fratture dell’epifisi prossimale di omero nell’anziano

Fractures of the proximal humerus are relatively common and represent 4–6% of all fractures, with a higher prevalence in the elderly population (in fact, 75% of the total involving patients over-50). Their treatment continues to be debated, not only in the choice between nonoperative approach (that allows satisfactory results with moderate risk) and surgical option, but especially in the selection of one surgical method rather than another among the many proposed. In a modern viewpoint of care aimed at ensuring adequate quality of life during treatment and social reintegration of the trauma patient, the limits of conservative treatment cannot be ignored and, over the years, has established a surgical address in the treatment of fractures more decisively. This study arises from the need to reconcile, in the treatment of these fractures, the best functional recovery, with the lowest incidence of complications related to surgery and not, but also to the psychological sequelae that trauma and the treatment itself can give to the elderly patients, most often affected by this injury. We report the results of 33 patients (20 women and 13 men, mean age 76 years) with fractures of the proximal humerus obtained using elastic nails osteosynthesis of Galluccio. At a 12 months follow-up, we have achieved an overall good functional recovery with a mean Constant score of 80.9. The synthesis of elastic nails named Galluccio cantherefore be considered a viable alternative to more invasive methods in fractures of the proximal epiphysis of the humerus in the elderly.