Surgical Position of Lateral-Tilted Supine is Suitable for Proximal Humeral Fracture Operations in Geriatric Patients

Abstract

Objective To report a new surgical position of lateral-tilted supine (LTS) for geriatric proximal humeral fracture operations. Methods Between January 2016 and December 2020, we adopted the LTS position for operations in 65 geriatric patients with proximal humeral fractures. Results Sixty-five patients including 25 males and 40 females aged 80.3 ± 8.5 years. The LTS position could be used for almost all proximal humeral fracture surgeries, such as ORIF with plate, suture anchor, and other fixation in 4 patients, open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with multiLoc nailing in 48, and shoulder hemiarthroplasty (SHA) in 13. Surgical position setting times were 11.47 ± 2.14 min. The systolic blood pressure changes before and after positioning were 15.07 ± 8.72 mmHg. All of the C-arm X-ray directions, including the cephalic side, contralateral side, and ipsilateral side, can be used in the LTS position surgeries. No surgical complications or no surgical position-related complications were found in these 65 cases. Conclusion The surgical position of LTS is suitable for geriatric proximal humeral fracture operations.