Objective To investigate the operative procedure and the therapeutic effects of minimally invasive incision and percutaneous pinning in operative treatment of Gartland type III humeral supracondylar fracture in children. Methods From September 2002 to July 2009, 189 patients with Gartland type III humeral supracondylar fracture were treated with minimally invasive incision and percutaneous pinning. There were 137 males and 52 females, aged from 1 to 13 years (6.2 years on average). Injury was caused by sports in 173 cases, by traffic accident in 9 cases, by fall ing from height in 5 cases, and by earthquake in 2 cases. All fractures were closed fractures, compl icating others fracture in 11 cases, radial nerve injury in 36 cases, median nerve injury in 5 cases, ulnar nerve injury in 2 cases, and brachial artery injury
in 2 cases. The time from injury to hospital ization was 1 hour to 10 days. Neurovascular repair was performed at the same period. Results All incisions healed by first intention, no related compl ications occurred. A total of 143 patients were followed up 5 months to 5 years (12 months on average). X-ray films showed fracture healed within 2-4 months (2.5 months on average). Cubitus varus occurred in 6 cases, but the functions of elbow flexion and extension were good; 2 cases were given distal humeral wedge osteotomy and 4 cases continued keeping the functional training. According to the Flynn et al criteria, the results were excellent in 121 cases, good in 15 cases, and fair in 7 cases; the excellent and good rate was 95.1%. Only a small incision scar was found, the function returned to normal in the cases compl icated by nerve and blood vessel injury. Conclusion Minimally invasive incision and percutaneous pinning for operative treatment of Gartland type III humeral supracondylar fracture in children is a safe and effective surgical procedure, which has minimal trauma, short surgery time, quick recovery, simple operation, and can be effective in reducing the compl ications.
Citation： JIANG Xin,TANG Xueyang,WANG Daoxi,PENG Mingxing,CHEN Xiaoliang,LIU Lijun.. OPERATIVE TREATMENT OF GARTLAND TYPE III HUMERAL SUPRACONDYLAR FRACTURES IN CHILDREN WITH MINIMALLY INVASIVE INCISION AND PERCUTANEOUS PINNING. Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery, 2010, 24(6): 677-679. doi: Copy