Management of Clavicular Fracture in Adults by Plating: a Systematic Review

Fracture clavicle in adults is common, treatment of such fracture is debatable, and in case of surgical treatment, the method of fixation is also debatable. In the current study, we reviewed the literature to bring up the answers for this debatable point, and to focus on the positive and negative results of surgical plating for the fracture clavicle in adults. The search was performed in the following electronic databases: PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library. The search included key words of: clavicle, fracture clavicle, in association with surgical approaches, plating of the clavicle and functional ability or physical activity. The initial search in database yielded 98 articles which match the search key words, by 1st screening, 47 articles were removed as duplicated titles and articles not in English language, 51 articles were re-screened, 40 articles were excluded as they were case reports, studies with unclear description of the outcome and unfound articles, and the remaining articles for final analysis were 11 articles. We recommended using of locking precontoured plate for fixation of the clavicle fractures especially middle third, and anteroinferior approach to perform this fixation; by combination of both, it will be of little complication and high successful rate of union.