Medicine:Medial epicondyle fracture of the humerus

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Medial Epicondyle Fracture of the Humerus

A medial epicondyle fracture is an avulsion injury to the medial epicondyle of the humerus; the prominence of bone on the inside of the elbow. Medial epicondyle fractures account for 10% elbow fractures in children. 25% of injuries are associated with a dislocation of the elbow.

Medial epicondyle fractures are typically seen in children and usually occur as a result of a fall onto an out-stretched hand. This often happen from falls from a scooter, roller skates, or monkey bars, as well as from injuries sustained playing sports. The peak age of occurrence is 10–12 years old.[1]

Symptoms include pain, swelling, bruising and a decreased ability to move or use the elbow. Initial pain may be managed with NSAIDs, opioids, and splinting. The management of pain in children typically follows guidelines, such as those from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.[2]

The diagnosis is confirmed with X-rays and occasionally with a CT scan.

The treatment of these injuries is controversial, and there are currently ongoing international randomised studies. The SCIENCE study is an ongoing study funded by the National Institute for Health Research (UK). A similar study is being planned in the US, funded by the National Institutes for Health (US). These studies both seek to determine if surgery to restore the natural position of the elbow is better than allowing the bone to heal in a cast without restoring the natural position. Children and families internationally are being encouraged to participate in these research studies to resolve the uncertainties.

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms include pain, swelling, bruising and a decreased ability to move or use the elbow. Blood in the soft tissues and knee joint (haemarthrosis) may lead to bruising and a doughy feel of the elbow joint.[citation needed]

Cause

An injury resulting in an outward (valgus) stress on the elbow, such as falling on an outstretched hand causes an avulsion fracture of the medial epicondyle.[citation needed]

The medial epicondyle is often the final growth plate (ossification center) to ossify in the elbow. Growth plates are particularly vulnerable to injury compared to bone. Children can have an open medial epicondyle growth plate until age 13–17 years old, thus making the medial epicondyle more susceptible to injury.[3]

Medial epicondyle fractures are associated with a dislocation of the elbow in about 25% of cases.[citation needed]

Diagnosis

In all injuries to the medial epicondyle, radiographs (x-rays) are imperative. Computed tomography scans are occasionally useful in evaluating the degree of fracture displacement or the involvement of the joint surface.[citation needed]

Displaced Fracture

Studies generally use the x-ray appearance of the arm to determine how displaced a fracture is. The definition of ‘displaced fractures' are variable, with anything from 2mm to more than 15mm;[4] however x-rays on which this assessment is made are known to be hugely misleading with fractures showing little displacement having >10mm displacement using CT scans.[5][6] The practical approach is therefore to assume that any fracture that has any degree of displacement on x-rays is ‘displaced’.[citation needed]

Treatment

There are several treatment options.

In children with a completely non-displaced fracture (i.e. the bone fragments have not moved), children will usually be treated in a cast without surgery.[7]

In children where the fragment of medial epicondyle is trapped in the joint, or where the elbow is dislocated and can’t be readily reduced in the emergency department, then there is universal agreement that surgery is needed to realign the bones.[8]

In children with a displaced fracture without a dislocation of the elbow (or an elbow dislocation that has been corrected), there is debate amongst surgeons about the best approach to treatment. Half of surgeons routinely recommend surgery, and half routinely recommend against surgery. The debate is whether to realign the displaced bones back into their natural position with surgery, and hold the fragments of bone with wires or screws, or whether to allow the fragments to heal in their current position by resting the elbow in a cast. Studies that have sought to draw together all of the scientific evidence, have failed to arrive at any firm conclusion, either in support of surgery or against surgery.[1][9] Some point to good to results without surgery,[9] whilst the others conclude that surgical fixation should be strongly considered to maximise the function in these children.[1]

However, the current published research has serious methodological limitations, particularly with regard to inconsistent follow-up, no standardisation of treatment approaches, the infrequent use of patient reported outcomes, and selection bias amongst those selected to undergo operative fixation.[10]

Ongoing research

The uncertainty associated with this injury has prompted surgeons make the treatment of medial epicondyle fractures the most important unanswered question in children’s musculoskeletal injuries.[11]

Surgeons want to determine if surgery to restore the natural position of the elbow is better than allowing the bone to heal in the injured position in a cast. The SCIENCE study is currently underway across the UK, Australia and New Zealand with more than 70 hospitals participating. It is funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research. A similar study has also recently got underway in North America, called the COMET study, which is funded by the National Institute of Health.[12] These studies fairly allocate children to either surgery or cast, through a process called randomisation. Surgeons around the globe are calling on parents and children with this injury to help them resolve their uncertainty, by allowing their children to be part of these studies. Whilst being part of research is difficult, families may wish to consider that patients involved in research typically have better outcomes than those not involved in research (called the trial-effect).[13]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kamath, Atul F.; Baldwin, Keith; Horneff, John; Hosalkar, Harish S. (2009). "Operative versus non-operative management of pediatric medial epicondyle fractures: a systematic review" (in en). Journal of Children's Orthopaedics 3 (5): 345–357. doi:10.1007/s11832-009-0192-7. ISSN 1863-2521. PMID 19685254. 
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". https://www.rcem.ac.uk/docs/RCEM%20Guidance/RCEM%20Pain%20in%20Children%20-%20Best%20Practice%20Guidance%20(REV%20Jul%202017).pdf. 
  3. ↑ "Errata". Acta Ortopédica Brasileira 14 (5): 282. 2006. doi:10.1590/s1413-78522006000500012. ISSN 1413-7852. 
  4. ↑ Hines, Robert F.; Herndon, William A.; Evans, J. Patrick (1987). "Operative Treatment of Medial Epicondyle Fractures in Children". Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 223 (223): 170–174. doi:10.1097/00003086-198710000-00019. ISSN 0009-921X. PMID 3652571. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00003086-198710000-00019. 
  5. ↑ Souder, Christopher D.; Farnsworth, Christine L.; McNeil, Natalie P.; Bomar, James D.; Edmonds, Eric W. (2015). "The Distal Humerus Axial View: Assessment of Displacement in Medial Epicondyle Fractures" (in en). Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 35 (5): 449–454. doi:10.1097/BPO.0000000000000306. ISSN 0271-6798. PMID 25171678. https://dx.doi.org/10.1097%2FBPO.0000000000000306. 
  6. ↑ Edmonds, Eric W (2010). "How Displaced Are "Nondisplaced" Fractures of the Medial Humeral Epicondyle in Children? Results of a Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography Analysis" (in en). Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 92 (17): 2785–2791. doi:10.2106/JBJS.I.01637. ISSN 0021-9355. PMID 21123608. https://dx.doi.org/10.2106%2FJBJS.I.01637. 
  7. ↑ Axibal, Derek Paul; Carry, Patrick; Skelton, Anne; Mayer, Stephanie Watson (2018-10-01). "No Difference in Return to Sport and Other Outcomes Between Operative and Nonoperative Treatment of Medial Epicondyle Fractures in Pediatric Upper-Extremity Athletes". Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine (6): e214–e218. doi:10.1097/jsm.0000000000000666. ISSN 1050-642X. PMID 30277893. 
  8. ↑ "Clinical Practice Guidelines : Medial epicondyle fracture of the humerus - Emergency Department". https://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/fractures/Medial_epicondyle_emerg/#Reduction. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Knapik, Derrick M.; Fausett, Cameron L.; Gilmore, Allison; Liu, Raymond W. (2017). "Outcomes of Nonoperative Pediatric Medial Humeral Epicondyle Fractures With and Without Associated Elbow Dislocation" (in en). Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 37 (4): e224–e228. doi:10.1097/BPO.0000000000000890. ISSN 0271-6798. PMID 27741036. https://dx.doi.org/10.1097%2FBPO.0000000000000890. 
  10. ↑ Howard, Andrew (2009), "How Should We Treat Elbow Fractures in Children?" (in en), Evidence-Based Orthopaedics (Elsevier): pp. 188–194, doi:10.1016/b978-141604444-4.50030-8, ISBN 978-1-4160-4444-4, http://www.crossref.org/deleted_DOI.html, retrieved 2020-11-29 
  11. ↑ Perry, D. C.; Wright, J. G.; Cooke, S.; Roposch, A.; Gaston, M. S.; Nicolaou, N.; Theologis, T. (2018-04-27). "A consensus exercise identifying priorities for research into clinical effectiveness among children's orthopaedic surgeons in the United Kingdom". The Bone & Joint Journal 100-B (5): 680–684. doi:10.1302/0301-620X.100B5.BJJ-2018-0051. ISSN 2049-4394. PMID 29701090. 
  12. ↑ Janicki, Joseph (in en). IMPACCT ? Infrastructure for Musculoskeletal Pediatric Acute Care Clinical Trials. https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R34-AR075303-01. 
  13. ↑ Braunholtz, David A.; Edwards, Sarah J.L.; Lilford, Richard J. (2001). "Are randomized clinical trials good for us (in the short term)? Evidence for a "trial effect"". Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 54 (3): 217–224. doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(00)00305-x. ISSN 0895-4356. PMID 11223318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0895-4356(00)00305-x. 



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