Operative Möglichkeiten zur Behandlung von fehlverheilten distalen Unterarmfrakturen im Kindesalter.

In the routine clinical practice surgeons are rarely confronted with the operative correction of pediatric distal forearm fractures that have healed in malalignment. The reason for this is certainly the capability for spontaneous correction of the growth plate at the distal radius. In this way even gross misalignment can be tolerated depending on the age and can be left to spontaneous correction. In individual cases, however, the spontaneous correction also reaches its limits. In most cases, this affects children beyond the age of 10 years who no longer have sufficient corrective capabilities. A second group of children are children with posttraumatic distal radial growth arrest. If there are indications for operative correction, there are basically three methods to choose from. In the case of axis misalignment alone, osteotomy and palmar plate osteosynthesis are performed. In the case of axis misalignment with a loss in length, the interposition of a bone graft should be performed in addition to osteotomy and plate osteosynthesis. If displacement has occurred due to posttraumatic distal radial growth arrest, osteotomy should be combined with callus distraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]