Background
Displaced olecranon fractures are the commonest fractures in the elbows of the adults that require operative treatment. The second most encountered complication was skin breakdown, which may lead to infection, either superficial or deep.
Patients and methods
A total of 64 patients were prospectively studied in this research and were divided randomly into two groups. All patients were treated with tension band wiring (TBW) technique: in group A, percutaneous method was used for fixation, and in group B, the conventional one was used.
Results
None of the study population in both groups developed wound infection or wound breakdown postoperatively. There were no recorded cases of nerve injury or deep infection. The overall rate of reoperation in our study was 32.8% (21 patients out of 64 in both groups). A significant relationship was found between the two groups regarding the time of operation and healing time, in favor of the group of percutaneous wiring. Moreover, the rate of reoperation shows a statistically significant difference between both groups, where group A showed lower percentage of reoperation cases.
Conclusion
Percutaneous tension band wiring (TBW) of olecranon fracture gives good results in terms of fixation and healing and possess a lower rate of complications in comparison with traditional TBW.