The Influence of Surgical Intervention Time for Supracondylar Fractures of the Humerus in Children

Abstract

Supracondylar fractures of the humerus are the most common elbow fracture injuries in children. Despite the frequency of these injuries, vascular and orthopaedic surgeons have long debated the management of these fractures. This study aims to look at the effects of the surgical intervention time on how the patient is treated and the complications after surgery. This is a retrospective study of children under 12 years of age who received hospital care due to a supracondylar fracture of the humerus at the University Trauma Hospital for the period January 2021 - November 2022. Data analysis for the 90 patients considered shows that the time of surgical intervention varies from 0 to 13 days, with an average of 1.6 days. The analytical results show that there is a negative relationship between the time of surgical intervention and the method of treatment; for patients who were treated with “closed repair and plaster cast", the time of surgical intervention is about 2.2 days less than for patients treated with "open reduction stabilised with K-wires" (p-value=0.00) while this time decreases up to 0.5 days for patients treated with "closed reduction stabilised with K-wires" (p-value=0.09). Also, the analytical results show that patients with longer surgical time intervention had complications (p-value = 0.00), emphasising the importance of surgical time intervention. The results of the study show that the average time intervention for these fractures at the University Trauma Hospital in Tirana is relatively high compared to the existing literature, thus increasing the possibility of complications and the patient's well-being. Keywords: Supracondylar fractures of humerus, elbow fracture, children.