Incarcerated medial epicondyle fracture following pediatric elbow dislocation: 11 cases

To describe outcomes after surgical management of pediatric elbow dislocation with incarceration of the medial epicondyle. We conducted a retrospective case review of 11 consecutive children and adolescents with an incarcerated medial epicondyle fracture after elbow dislocation. All patients underwent open reduction internal fixation using a similar technique. We characterized outcomes at final follow-up. Average follow-up was 14 months (range, 4-56 mo). All patients had clinical and radiographic signs of healing at final follow-up. There was no radiographic evidence of loss of reduction at intervals or at final follow-up. There were no cases of residual deformity or valgus instability. Average final arc of elbow motion was 4° to 140°. All patients had forearm rotation from 90° supination to 90° pronation. Average Mayo elbow score was 99.5. Four of 11 patients had ulnar nerve symptoms postoperatively and 1 required a second operation for ulnar nerve symptoms. In addition, 1 required a second operation for flexion contracture release with excision of heterotopic ossification. Three patients had ulnar nerve symptoms at final follow-up. Two of these had mild paresthesia only and 1 had both mild paresthesia and weakness. Our results suggest that open reduction internal fixation of incarcerated medial epicondyle fractures after elbow dislocation leads to satisfactory motion and function; however, the injury carries a high risk for complications, particularly ulnar neuropathy. Therapeutic IV

Evaluating Glenohumeral Osteoarthritis: The Relative Impact of Patient Age, Activity Level, Symptoms, and Kellgren-Lawrence Grade on Treatment

Background: It is not always clear how to treat glenohumeral osteoarthritis, particularly in young patients. The goals ofthis study were to 1) quantify how patient age, activity level, symptoms, and radiographic findings impact the decisionmakingof shoulder specialists and 2) evaluate the observer reliability of the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grading system forprimary osteoarthritis of the shoulder.Methods: Twenty-six shoulder surgeons were each sent 54 simulated patient cases. Each patient had a differentcombination of age, symptoms, activity level, and radiographs. Responders graded the radiographs and chose atreatment (non-operative, arthroscopy, hemiarthroplasty, or total shoulder arthroplasty). Spearman correlations andchi square tests were used to assess the relationship between factors and treatments. Sub-analysis was performedon surgical cases. An intra-class correlation (ICC) was used to assess observer agreement.Results: The significant correlations (