Screw placement is everything: Risk factors for loss of reduction with volar locking distal radius plates

Table 1 Description of characteristics of 250¹ patients with 250 dorsally displaced distal radius fractures managed with volar locking distal radius plates documented between 2010 and 2014 at two regional hospitals in north Queensland, Australia

Characteristic	Descriptive statistics
Patient
Mean age (SD)2; range (yr)	49.1 (16.7); range 16 to 88
Female	63.2% (n = 158)
Comorbidities (ASA classification)4 (n = 67)
ASA 1	34.3% (n = 23)
ASA 2	59.7% (n = 40)
ASA 3	6.0% (n = 4)
With Osteoporosis5 (n = 164)	51.2% (n = 84)
Injury
High energy mechanism (n = 160)	46.9% (n = 75)
Right wrist fractured (n = 248)	42.3% (n = 105)
AO fracture classification6
A2	14.8% (n = 37)
A3	14.8% (n = 37)
B1	2.8% (n = 7)
B2	4.0% (n = 10)
C1	12% (n = 30)
C2	34.4% (n = 86)
C3	17.2% (n = 43)
Median number of days from injury to surgery (IQR)3; range (n = 164)	6 (1, 16); range 0 to 71
Treatment
With 1 distal screw row	25.6% (n = 64)
Median number of distal screws (IQR); range	4 (4, 5); range 3 to 8
Median number of distal screws in first row (IQR); range	4 (4, 4.25); range 2 to 5
Median number of distal screws in second row (IQR); range	2 (1, 3); range 1 to 4
With 4 or less distal screws in most distal row	75.2% (n = 188)
Median distance from joint line (IQR); range (mm)	3.1 (2.1, 4.1) range 0 to 11
Postoperative immobilisation7 (n = 224)	87.9% (n = 197)
Outcome measure
Mean radial shortening (SD); range (mm)	1.9 (1.3); range 0 to 5.6

¹n = 250 unless otherwise stated;

²SD = standard deviation;

³IQR = inter-quartile range;

⁴ASA classification;

⁵osteoporosis was classified as “yes” when chart information was available and in females > 60 years of age with low energy trauma;

⁶AO fracture classification. B3 fractures were excluded from the analysis as they are volar shear fractures and follow different biomechanical principles;

⁷postoperative immobilisation was either by cast (n = 128) or by thermoplastic splint (n = 77). Duration of immobilisation varied between two and four weeks. ASA: American Society of Anaesthesiologists.