The very rare isolated medial humeral condyle fractures in children and adolescents pose significant problems to orthopedic surgeons such as ulnar nerve injury, trochlear irregularities, fishtail deformity and motion loss. Six adolescent boys with displaced medial humeral condyle fractures with an average age of 14.8 (range 12-17) were included in this study. Patients were followed-up with a mean of 39.8 months (range 21-72). In three patients, there were clinical signs of ulnar nerve dysfunction at initial presentation. Of these, two had only mild hypoesthesia on the ulnar side. The other patient had sensory and motor loss of ulnar nerve at initial presentation complicated by hypothenar atrophy and anhydrosis during follow-up. Complete recovery was seen in this patient only at 2 years. One patient without a neurologic compliant at initial presentation developed mild hypoesthesia on the ulnarly innervated areas postoperatively with complete resolution. Medial skin incision was used for open reduction and internal fixation. No signs of gross morphologic damage were seen on the nerve. The symptoms resolved postoperatively in 3 months time in three of the patients, but in the remaining one, it took 2 years for complete resolution of the symptoms. Also, trochlear irregularity and fishtail deformity were seen on radiographs of two different patients. In all but one patients, motion loss ranging from 10° to 20° was evident on physical examination. The most important finding of this study revealed that transient ulnar nerve dysfunction was seen two-thirds of the patients in this series than any other series reported previously. In three series, only one case of ulnar nerve injury was reported from a total of 19 patients. A possible explanation for such a difference may be the older age in this series.
Foreign body injuries may result in serious complications such as infection, migration and joint stiffness. A throughout history and physical and radiological examinations are of tremendous importance to achieve the best outcome in these patients.
Our experience indicates that this new IM radius nail may be considered as an alternative to plate osteosynthesis for fractures of the radius diaphysis in adults. IM nailing of radius fractures provides reliable bony union and excellent postoperative clinical results in adults.
Seymour's fracture is an extra-articular, transverse, physeal, and juxta-epiphyseal open fracture of the distal phalanx seen in childhood. In this study, we present 10 adult cases of fractures localized to the metaphyseal region, 1-2 mm distal to the insertion of the extensor tendon. Mean age was 38 years. Four patients were treated conservatively with a mallet finger splint. Closed reduction and osteosynthesis with Kirschner wires (K-wires) was performed in three of the patients. Three of the patients had open fractures in whom closed reduction could not be performed. They underwent open reduction and osteosynthesis with K-wires. We recommend that extra-articular distal phalanx fractures mimicking mallet finger in adults are called Seymour-type fracture to establish a common language among clinicians to define this type of fracture. These fractures generally occur by hyperflexion of the distal phalanx and can be treated by conservative or surgical methods. The outcomes of conservative and surgical management of Seymour-type fractures depend on the appropriate reduction as well as efficient physical therapy.
In the treatment of type IV capitellum fractures in adolescents, open reduction with a lateral surgical approach and fixation using posteroanterior directed, cannulated, fully threaded, headless screws is a reliable method to achieve a pain-free functional elbow joint.
Although the analgesic effect of local infiltration is provided later than by epidural analgesia, the same level of pain control can be achieved with initial additional analgesia. Local infiltration is superior to epidural analgesia in respect of few side effects and early mobilization.
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