International Surgery Journal | January 2021 | Vol 8 | Issue 1 Page 48 International Surgery Journal Malik A et al. Int Surg J. 2021 Jan;8(1):48-53 http://www.ijsurgery.com pISSN 2349-3305 | eISSN 2349-2902 Original Research Article Circumosseous wire fixation for metacarpal fractures: an old method revisited Anil Malik 1 *, Parvesh Malik 1 , Vijay Kumar Pandey 1 , Dev Jyoti Sharma 1 , Kumar Pushkar 2 INTRODUCTION Metacarpal fractures comprise around 18-44% of all hand fractures and fifth metacarpal fracture being most commonly involved. 1,2 Metacarpal fractures may be open or closed, intra or extra-articular. Fracture lines may be oblique, transverse, spiral or comminuted. 3 Minimally displaced, with no rotational deformity metacarpal fractures are generally managed conservatively.4Simple fractures with significant rotational deformity or displacement are managed with various fixation methods like percutaneous K-wire fixation (longitudinal or transverse) or one of the various open fixation methods available such as plates and screws ,lag screws, K-wires, interosseous or circumosseous dental wires , combinationof K-wires and dental loop wires. 4-14 Complex metacarpal fractures are generally managed with external fixationor rigid internal fixation. 15,16 Gropper et al about 36 years ago had described a simple technique using dental wires in circumosseous fixation for spiral and oblique fractures of metacarpal shaft. This technique did not gain popularity as authors believed that bone always had to be scored to prevent wire from migrating and this weakened the already fractured bone. Secondly it was believed that fixation was not rigid. In the present study 128 cases of metacarpal shaft fractures were treated with one of the methods K-wire fixation, plates and screws, circumosseous dental wiring. The results of all three methods were compared for fracture healing and functional outcome. ABSTRACT Background: Different methods are in use for fixation of metacarpal fractures. Krischener wire and titanium miniplates are most commonly used methods. Both these methods require special & sophisticated instruments. In this study, we have used a dental wire in circumosseous fashion to fix the metacarpal fractures. Methods: In the study, we included all the fracture of metacarpals with operative indication. K-wire, minilplate system and circumosseous dental wire methods were used randomly. Results: The results were compared in term of immediate post-operative complications & functional recovery in form of ability of fist formation at 06 weeks. All the three methods were found comparable, in fact in this study the results of fractures treated with circumosseous wiring were appreciable and significantly better. Conclusions: Circumossoeus use of dental wire can be an alternate method of metacarpal fracture fixation. Keywords: Metacarpal, Fracture, Circumossoeus wiring 1 Department of Plastic Surgery, Command Hospital, Chandimandir, Haryana, India 2 Department of Community Medicine, Command Hospital, Wanowrie, Pune, Maharashtra, India Received: 01 December 2020 Revised: 15 December 2020 Accepted: 16 December 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Anil Malik, E-mail: anilmalik1309@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-2902.isj20205666