[Plaster combined with splint for the treatment of gartland type III humeral supracondylar fractures in children].

Objective: To study clinical effects of plaster combined with splint for the treatment of Gartland type 1I humeral fractures.

Methods: From March 2002 to May 2006, 24 children with humeral supracondylar fractures of Gartland type ill were reviewed. Among the patients, 14 patients were male and 10 patients were female, ranging in age from 4 to 12 years, averaged 6.6 years. Ten patients had injuries in the left and other 14 patients had injuries in the right limb. Firstly, the patients were treated with manipulative reduction to maintain the length of humerus without emphasis on anatomic reduction. Then, the patients were treated with external fixation using plaster for 5 to 7 days, and secondary manipulative reduction after swelling disappeared. Lastly, the patients were treated with external fixation using splint for 4 to 5 weeks until fracture union.

Results: All the patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 5 months to 2 years, with an average of 1.2 years. All the patients had no complications such as neurovascular injury, myositis ossificans, forearm compartment syndrome and Volkmann contracture. According to ZHU Xiao-ting evaluation criteria for humeral supracondylar fractures in children, 12 patients got an excellent result, 8 good, 3 poor and 1 bad.

Conclusion: Treatment of child humeral supracondylar fractures with plaster and splint has several advantages such as avoiding serious soft tissue injuries around fractures due to many times reduction, fracture dynamic correction to obtain satisfactory reduction, reducing complications, obtaining good reduction, and restoring elbow function in a relatively short period of time.