Surgical Technique for Closed Reduction and Percutaneous Pinning of Pediatric Lateral Humeral Condyle Fractures

Abstract

Lateral condyle fractures are intra-articular injuries of the distal humerus and are the second most common elbow fracture in pediatric patients. When these fractures involve significant displacement, anatomic reduction of the lateral condyle fragment is commonly achieved using open reduction techniques. Although a technique for closed reduction of lateral condyle fractures has been proposed in the literature, an instructional, step-by-step description of such a technique has yet to be published. We have built upon the previously published closed reduction technique by focusing on the pathomechanism of injury, with the goal of making successful closed reduction more reliably reproducible across treating surgeons. Specifically, this article provides step-by-step descriptions of the proposed mechanism of injury, reduction technique, pinning technique, arthrogram/casting technique, and suggested follow-up for pediatric patients with lateral humeral condyle fractures.