ArticleEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2024
Non-operative treatment of metacarpal fractures and patient-reported outcomes: a multicentre snapshot study.
Article in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Functional Outcome of Lucerne Cast in Patients with Metacarpal Fracture with or without Proximal Phalanx Fracture: An Observational Prospective Study.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2026Article
- Radiological follow-up in metacarpal fractures: necessity, costs, and environmental impact.Skeletal radiology · 2026Article
- Transverse inter-metacarpal K-wire with Nice-knot augmentation versus mini-plate fixation for second-fifth metacarpal shaft fractures: a single-center retrospective cohort study.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to investigate practice variation in non-operative treatment methods and immobilisation duration for metacarpal fractures, and to evaluate patient-reported outcomes.
methodsConducted in 12 Dutch hospitals over three months in 2020, this study included adult patients with non-operatively treated solitary metacarpal fractures. Fractures were classified into intra-articular base, extra-articular base, shaft, neck, and intra-articular head fractures. The treatment methods (functional treatment allowing digit mobilisation or immobilisation) and immobilisation duration were assessed. Patient-reported outcomes were evaluated using the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) at three months post-trauma.
resultsOf 389 included patients, shaft fractures were most common (n = 150, 39%), with 93% immobilised, followed by fifth metacarpal neck fractures (n = 93, 24%), with 75% immobilised. Immobilisation rates for fifth metacarpal neck fractures varied between hospitals, ranging from 29% (95% CI 0.10-0.58) to 100% (95% CI 0.78-1.00). The median immobilisation duration for all fractures was 23 days (IQR: 20-28), and hospital setting was independently associated with this duration. Patients with metacarpal shaft fractures immobilised for less than 21 days had higher MHQ scores compared to those immobilised for 21 days or more (median (IQR) 83 (76-100) versus 71 (57-89), p = 0.026).
conclusionsThe results showed practice variation in the treatment of metacarpal fractures, especially in the treatment of fifth MC neck fractures, with some hospitals following the Dutch guideline that advocates functional treatment while others did not. There are suggestions that prolonged immobilisation of metacarpal shaft fractures may lead to a worse MHQ score. These findings underscore the need for adherence to treatment protocols and emphasize functional treatment to potentially improve patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.