The Supracondylar Osteotomy for the Angular Deformity Followed by a Fracture Arround the Elbow

Park, Byeong Mun; Kwon, Soon Woun; Kim, Sung Jae; Kim, Myung Ku

Abstract

The elbow injury is frequent among the children. The cubitus varus and cubitus valgus deformities are the common late complications of the elbow fracture. Although, these deformities rarely limit elbow function, the correction is frequently requested due to cosmetic problem and/or tardy ulnar nerve palsy. We performed 33 supracondylar closed wedge osteotomies from Jan. 1976 to Jan. 1986, of which 27 cases were cubitus varus, and 6 cases were cubitus valgus at Yonsei University College of Medicine. The results were as follows; 1. Cubitus varus deformity was more common than cubitus valgus; the ratio was 4.5 : 1. 2. The most common initial injury resulted in such angular deformity of elbow was supracondylar fracture of humerus. 3. The duration of plaster-cast immobilization after operation was much longer in cases who operated over 15 years old than under 15 years old. 4. There is no relationship between the duration after initial injury and the result of operation. 5. The result of supracondylar osteotomy was excellent in 11 cases(33.3%), good in 17 cases(51.5 %), and poor in 5 cases(15.2%). 6. Three fourths of cases resulted in excellent and good result were under 15 years old. 7. It is recommeneed that the angular deformity of elbow is corrected early rather than at the conclusion of growth.