An unusual case of an isolated capitellar freacture of the right elbow in a child: a case report

• Autor(a) principal: Alves, Cristina
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Ferreira, Fabiola, Pestana, José António, França, Ana Patrícia Macedo, Freitas, António Pedro Tomás Cunha, Jales, Bruno Tertuliano, Ramos, Manuel Correia, Pereira, Mário
• Tipo de documento: Relatório
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/31470
• topic: isolated capitellar fracture; right elbow; child

Introduction: Although elbow fractures have a high incidence in the pediatric population, fractures of the capitellum are almost exclusively observed in individuals older than 12 years of age. Due to their rarity in children, reports with large numbers of cases are lacking in the literature and the surgical treatment options are poorly defined. Case presentation: We present the case of an 11-year-old Portuguese girl with a displaced fracture of the capitellum of the right elbow, a typical Hahn-Steinthal or Type 1 fracture, which was followed for one year. The treatment and outcome of this fracture are described. Our patient underwent an open reduction and internal fixation with two cannulated screws. There were no complications and normal elbow function was recovered. Conclusion: The authors believe that cannulated screw fixation is a reliable method of treatment for Type 1 capitellar fracture in children because it enables good terfragmentary compression, early mobilization, faster functional elbow recovery and implant removal is rarely necessary