Evaluation of the relationship of Hounsfield Unit with clinical and radiological results in patients who underwent surgery for distal radius fracture

Distal radius fractures are common fractures of the upper extremity, especially in the adult age group. In terms of age distribution, it shows a bimodal distribution as 6-10 years old and 60-69 years old. There are many studies in the literature showing a correlation between Hounsfield Unit (HU) measured on Computed Tomography and bone density. The aim of our study is to evaluate the relationship of Hounsfield Unit with clinical and radiological results in patients who were operated by us due to radius distal end fracture. The study was conducted on 59 patients who were admitted to our clinic in 20182021 and underwent surgery for a radius distal fracture. HU values were measured and noted by taking 3 sections separately from the fracture line located in the radius distal via Computed Tomography (CT). According to the HU scale, <140 is considered bad, 140-220 is medium, >220 is considered good. The clinical results of the wrist after surgery were evaluated with a Modified Mayo Wrist Score. 59 patients who met the criteria of the study were included. According to the AO classification, there was no difference between type A fracture, type B fracture and type C fracture pattern compared to HU statistically(p>0.05). When the relationship between fracture union time and fracture pattern was evaluated, it was concluded that the union time was not affected by the fracture pattern (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between the fracture types and the Modified Mayo Wrist Scoring, which is used to evaluate the postoperative clinical results (p>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the measured HU values and the Modified Mayo Wrist Scores (p>0.05). In addition, a negative significant correlation was found between HU scores measured for distal radius fractures and union times (p<0.05) (r: -.474). In many studies in the literature, it has been shown that there is a similarity between the HU value and the bone densities measured by DXA. In our study, it was observed that union times were faster in patients who were evaluated as good according to the HU scale. In addition, we recommend that HU values be used routinely because their measurement is practical, their cost is low, and they do not create extra radiation exposure.