Publication:

Comparative study of management of olecranon fractures using tension band wiring technique with cancellous screw and K wires

Background Olecranon fractures are commonly seen injuries in the emergency room. The surgical management of displaced fractures is open reduction and internal fixation with k-wires and figure of eight tension band wiring. It can also be fixed with intramedullary cancellous screw with tension band wiring. The present study is to compare the results of both the surgical procedures and to assess the merits and demerits.

Methods This prospective comparative study was carried out from August 2012 to November 2013 in Bapuji Hospital and Chigateri General Hospital attached to J.J.M Medical College, Davangere, India, where among 20 olecranon fractures, ten were treated with Tension band wiring with Kirshner wire and another ten treated with intramedullary cacellous screw with tension band wiring and the results were evaluated and compared.

Results In our study, most of the cases were type II B fractures according to Colton’s classification. According to Mayo elbow performance score, Excellent  results found  in 8  patients (80%), good in1patient (10%)  and fair in 1 patient (10%) in cancellous screw group and in K wire group, 5 patient (50%) had excellent, 3 patient (30%) had good  and 2 patients (20%) had fair results. No poor result was seen in both groups.

Conclusions From this study it is concluded that using cancellous screw with tension band wiring for displaced transverse and oblique olecranon fractures gives better clinical results when compared to tension band wiring with K-wire fixation avoiding cost, work time loss and possible complications from hard ware removal.