Treatment of Type Ⅲ Acute Acromioclavicular Dislocation

제 3형 급성 견봉 쇄골 관절 탈구의 치료

Purpose : There has been considerable controversy as to the method of the treatment of acute acromioclavicular joint dislocation classified to type III injury. The purpose of this study is to compare the conservative and operative treatment of the type III acute acromioclavicular joint dislocation in terms of clinical and radiological results. Materials and Methods: We treated 31 cases of acute, type III acromioclavicular joint dislocation, 17 cases were treated by operative methods and 14 patients by conservative treatment, and 1 year minimum follow-up was done from January 1990 to January 1996. We used UCLA Shoulder Rating Scale for clinical results. And for the radiological results coracoclaviclar distance were measured. We used Fisher's exact test for statistical analysis of results between the two treatment methods. Results: Fifteen(88.2%) of seventeen patients in operative treatment and eleven(78.6%) of fourteen patients in nonoperative treatment were rated excellent or good on the UCLA rating scale. In radiographic evaluation, the average coracoclavicular distances of preoperative state, immediate postoperation(or postreduction) and last follow-up were as follows. In operative cases, it was 1.75±0.21mm, 1.14±0.24mm and 1.33± 0.22mm respectively. In nonoperative cases, it was 1.65±0.14mm, 1.26±0.26mm, and 1.42±0.27mm respectively. Conclusion : This study demonstrated that there was no significant difference in clinical and radiological results between the operative and nonoperative treatment groups. So, nonoperative treatment is recommended for acute type III acromioclavicular dislocation as general rule.