For almost a month, he suffered from a complex fracture of the shoulder blade because he could not find doctors who would perform the operation.
Orthopedic traumatologists at St Luke’s Hospital of the First Medical Unit of Lviv helped the young man and performed metal osteosynthesis, i.e. fused the bone fragments with implants.
The patient is 28-year-old Mykhailo Kmetiuk from the town of Dunayivtsi, Khmelnytskyi region. Before mobilisation, he worked as a fitness trainer. He was called to the army in the autumn of 2023. However, six months later, the man was discharged from military service for health reasons. He was injured at home in early April. At that time, Mykhailo borrowed his brother’s moped to go on business. He ran into a pothole, lost control and fell.
At the hospital, the man underwent an X-ray, was diagnosed with a complex fracture of the left shoulder blade and was fitted with a splint. For four weeks, he suffered from constant unbearable pain and could not move his left arm at all. So he started looking for a hospital that specialised in such injuries. He found the right specialists in Lviv – at St Luke’s Hospital.
The doctors examined Mykhailo and stated that the case, although difficult, was within their capabilities and that he needed surgery.
“The fracture was complicated because it involved the articular area of the scapula, which is responsible for movements in the shoulder joint. It was broken along three lines in two planes. That is, there was a complete displacement of the articular surface that attaches the arm to the body. If this operation is not performed, the patient will completely lose the ability to move the arm, except for the hand,” says Yuriy Senyuk, orthopedic traumatologist at St Luke’s Hospital.
Specialists performed metal osteosynthesis – they connected the bone fragments with titanium plates and screws to fuse the scapula in the correct anatomical position.
The surgery was performed under special X-ray control. It is needed to reduce the size of the surgical accesses and, at the same time, to ensure that the bones are properly fixed. The surgery was successful. However, in a few weeks, one of the possible complications arose – the postoperative wound suppuration. Doctors cleaned it of pus and stitched it up again.
Now Mykhailo is feeling well. He can now gradually lift and bend his left arm. The man still has long sessions with a physical therapist ahead of him, but the doctors are confident that he will make a full recovery and be in the same shape as before the accident.