Salvage of an Existing Construct With Stacked Plating

Fracture fixation with double plating has been well documented. We report an 82-year-old female who suffered a proximal humerus fracture who was treated surgically with locking plate and screws. Unfortunately, patient fell seven weeks later and suffered a peri-implant humeral shaft fracture at the junction of the proximal and middle third just around the most distal screw from the initial surgery. Because the previous fracture had not healed completely and removing the prosthesis would probably cause a collapse of the previous reduction, a decision was made to stack an exact but longer proximal humeral locking plate for fixation. After three months of follow up, patient has achieved functional recovery with satisfactory ranges of motion in her right shoulder. This outcome demonstrates that salvage of an existing construct with stacked plating can work as an alternative method of fixation when other options are less appropriate.