Fifty three adult patients with fracture of the humeral shaft were retrospectivelystudied. Orthopaedic-functional treatment was applied in 36 cases. Seventeen patients witheither multiple injuries or transverse middle-shaft fractures were surgically treated. The meanage of patients was 48 ± 21 years. Right side was most frecuently affected and casual fall wasthe predominated etiology. There were no differences regarding the average consolidation periodbetween fractures treated conservatively (60 ± 14 days) and those undergoing surgery (56 ± 12days). As complications, there were 7 monounions (4 conservative and 3 operative treatment).The mean age of patients with non-unions was higther than those with complete fracture consolidation.Radial nerve injury was seen in 8 cases. In all there patients, a complete functionalwere recovery was obtained with a mean average time of 38 ± 30 weeks. When evaluating functionalresults according to Gayet, satisfactory results were found in 80 per cent of patients withconservative treatment and 70 per cent of those surgically treated.

Fifty three adult patients with fracture of the humeral shaft were retrospectivelystudied. Orthopaedic-functional treatment was applied in 36 cases. Seventeen patients witheither multiple injuries or transverse middle-shaft fractures were surgically treated. The meanage of patients was 48 ± 21 years. Right side was most frecuently affected and casual fall wasthe predominated etiology. There were no differences regarding the average consolidation periodbetween fractures treated conservatively (60 ± 14 days) and those undergoing surgery (56 ± 12days). As complications, there were 7 monounions (4 conservative and 3 operative treatment).The mean age of patients with non-unions was higther than those with complete fracture consolidation.Radial nerve injury was seen in 8 cases. In all there patients, a complete functionalwere recovery was obtained with a mean average time of 38 ± 30 weeks. When evaluating functionalresults according to Gayet, satisfactory results were found in 80 per cent of patients withconservative treatment and 70 per cent of those surgically treated.