Short summary

High level evidens on the topic of humeral shaft fractures are very sparse. The aim is to compare treatment effect between surgical and non-surgical treatment in a multicenter RCT, including hospitals from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The primary outcome is DASH, a patient-reported outcome, after 52 weeks. The surgical approach will be surgeon-dependent and the study population will be divided into two age groups to increase the interpretation of results.

Rationale

The outcome of non-surgical treatment is generally good, but the treatment course can be long and painful with approximately a quarter of the patients acquiring a nonunion. Both surgical and non-surgical treatment can have disabling consequences such as nerve injury, infection and nonunion. The purpose of the study is to compare patient reported outcome after surgical and non-surgical treatment for humeral shaft fractures.

Collaborating researchers and departments

Zealand University Hospital

• Bamo Jalal
• Stig Brorson

Kolding Hospital

• Christian Cavallius

Oslo University Hospital

• Kaare Midgaard
• Tore Fjalestad

Stavanger Hospital

• Aksel
• Paulsen

Uppsala University Hospital

• Olof Wolf

Göteborg University Hospital

• Carl Ekholm

Hvidovre University Hospital of Copenhagen

• Søren Kring