The Effect of Surgery on Functional Outcomes in Adults With Skafoid-Risk Fractures

The question is, do adults with non-displaced or minimally displaced scafoid risk fractures have better functional outcomes after one year if they are treated surgically or non-surgically? The authors of our recent meta-analysis sought to answer this question by identifying randomized trials that compared surgery with non-operative management in adults. They found seven trials, three of which were rated as high quality and four as low quality. With this better outcome though, they also saw a higher rate of nerve injuries, infections, or complex regional pain syndromes in surgery versus non-surgical management at 9% versus 2.6%. This translates to a number needed to treat a 15 for