Interposed Free Bone Fragment in Dislocated Medial Epicondyle Fracture of the Elbow: A Case Report

Abstract

A 13-year-old girl fell down on her left hand, resulting in elbow dislocation with medial epicondyle fracture of the humerus. The dislocation was immediately reduced manually; however, open reduction and internal fixation of the fracture was performed because the medial epicondyle showed > 5 mm displacement. Her passive motion under general anesthesia was smooth and full after the fixation. However, her elbow motion was limited to 60 postoperatively. Postoperative imaging showed a free bone fragment interposed within her elbow. We removed the interposed bone fragment, and the patient showed full active elbow motion without pain in 4 weeks. To the best of our knowledge, there is few report of elbow fracture dislocation with an interposed free bone fragment in medial epicondyle fracture. The possibility of small isolated bone fragment interposition should be considered in medial epicondyle fractures with elbow dislocation.




J Med Cases. 2014;5(7):401-403
doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc1819w