Percutaneous intramedullary fixation of metacarpal shaft fractures

Twenty-two displaced metacarpal shaft fractures in 19 patients were stabili zed with multiple intramedullary K-wires. These were inserted percutaneousl y through a small window in the base of the metacarpal and were buried in t he bone. No external splintage was routinely used postoperatively and all p atients were encouraged to mobilize their fingers immediately: formal physi otherapy was not usually required. All the fractures that we mere able to follow-up united, but the K-wires be nt at the fracture site in two instances, producing 20 degrees angular defo rmities. The buried K-wires had to be removed in one instance as a result o f protrusion into the carpometacarpal joint.