Management of surgical neck nonunions

A surgical neck nonunion is a seriously debilitating complication of a prox imal humerus fracture. Patients have virtually no functional use of their s houlders and experience pain. Successful treatment is reliable in relief of pain and potentially can restore function. The diagnosis is not difficult, however, a CT scan may be necessary to identify tuberosity or head-splitti ng fractures. Successful treatment for these nonunions is difficult but gra tifying because the percent improvement is immense.