Fractures of the distal radius (Colles' fracture).
OBJECTIVE
Although Colles' fracture is a common clinical situation for the orthopedist, we did not find any information in the literature that would allow safe decision-making on the best treatment for each fracture type. The aim of the present study was to investigate Brazilian orthopedists' opinions regarding the main aspects of treatments for Colles' fracture.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study conducted during the 34th Brazilian Congress of Orthopedics and Traumatology.


METHODS
Five hundred questionnaires containing 12 items were randomly distributed to orthopedists who were attending the congress; 439 were filled out correctly and were considered in this study.


RESULTS
The main factors in making decisions on interventions in fracture cases were whether the fracture was intra-articular, the existence of shortening of the distal radius and the patient's age. The classification method most used was Frykmann. The closed reduction method most used was manual reduction. The principal surgical interventions were percutaneous pinning (39%), external fixation (27%) and volar plate (19%). Most of the interviewees only used bone grafts for osseous gaps in special cases. The most frequent complications were impairment of joint mobility and residual pain.


CONCLUSIONS
Brazilian orthopedists have concordant opinions regarding conservative treatment methods and the use of bone grafts. There were conflicting opinions regarding surgical treatment methods, classification types and complications.
Belloti
João Carlos
JC
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Santos
João Baptista Gomes dos
JB
Atallah
Alvaro Nagib
AN
Albertoni
Walter Manna
WM
Faloppa
Flavio
F
D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D001938:Brazil; D003100:Colles' Fracture / Q000628:therapy*; D032921:Consensus; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires