Acromioclavicular joint dislocation is one of the most common shoulder injuries in clinical orthopedics which mainly occurs in young adults, accounting for about 12% of all shoulder injuries in clinical practice. There are various types of fixation methods in the treatment of acromioclavicular joint dislocation, including plate and screw fixation, Kirschner wire and tension band fixation, etc., and there are also numerous types of plates. There has been a lot of controversy in clinical practice about which type of plate is the best treatment for patients with acromioclavicular dislocation. Objective To investigate and compare the application effect of clavicular hook plate versus loop plate in the surgical treatment of acute acromioclavicular dislocation of Rockwood type Ⅲ-Ⅴ.

From March 2013 to March 2018, 93 patients with acute acromioclavicular dislocation were admitted into our hospital. According to the types of plate used in the surgical procedures, the patients were selected and divided into two groups, clavicular hook plate group (n=42) and loop plate group (n=51) . The surgical characters of the two groups was observed and compared. The changes in visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and Constant-Murley scores before and after surgery in both groups were recorded as well as the incidence of postoperative adverse complications.

The incision length in the loop plate group was shorter than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . The operation time in the loop plate group was longer than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . The intraoperative blood loss in the loop plate group was lower than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . The recovery time in the loop plate group was shorter than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . Before surgery, there was no significant difference in VAS scores between the two groups (P>0.05) . After surgery, VAS scores of the two groups was significantly higher than that before treatment, but the VAS score of loop plate group was lower than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . Before surgery, there was no significant difference in the Constant-Murley scores between the two groups (P>0.05) . After surgery, the Constant-Murley score in the loop plate group was significantly higher than that in the clavicular hook plate group (P<0.05) . The incidence of complications in the clavicular hook plate group was significantly higher than that in the loop plate group (P<0.05) .

During the surgical treatment, both types of plates can effectively restore the shoulder function in patients with acute acromioclavicular dislocation of Rockwood type III-V. The loop plate group had shorter incisions, lower intraoperative blood loss, postoperative VAS score as well as complication rate. The clavicular hook plate group had lower operation time and recovery time. Thus, the selection should be made based on the actual situation of the patients.