Tuesday 28 April 2015

Do shoulder fractures need surgery?

Fractures that occur at the upper end of the humerus near the shoulder (called humeral neck fractures) are common. They are often treated with surgery despite a lack of supporting evidence for this, particularly in older, osteoporotic patients. Now, thanks to a recent study from the UK, it is possible that most of these fractures don’t need surgery, even in young patients. This is big news, but will this research jump the gap from research into practice and influence the decision making of the end users – the patient and their surgeon?