Treatment of Fracture of Shaft of Humerus by Ender Nailing

Moon, Myung Sang; Sun, Doo Hoon; Ahn, Ik Joo

Abstract

Authors presented the experience of Ender nail treatment for the humeral shaft fractures in 24 patients. The results of treatment in all were satisfactory, though there were four cases of delayed union. Bridging callus was formed at 8.2 weeks on an average. The average clinical union time was 14 weeks. No complications developed during nailing procedure. A case of radial nerve palsy after fracture recovered spontaneously. Longer nails which hit the end of medullary canal of distal fragment distracted the fracture gap, and resulted in delayed union in 4 cases. Therefore, it is recommended to use the proper size of nail to avoid the distraction effect of the inserted nail, and to use two nails at minimum for better fixation. However, when intramedullary Ender nailing is properly done, single nailing also can give consistently good anatomic and functional results.