Here is an interesting case of a 10 year old who fell while riding his bike and came to the emergency department with a fracture of the radius and ulna. In this case, because the fractures were open and the child needed to go to the operating room in order to have the fracture site cleaned up, a decision was made to fix the fractures with an intra-medullary flexible nail technique.
These are the pre-operative xrays of the left forearm.
the child was taken to the emergency department and whisked off to sleep by the anesthesiologist. The left arm was prepared for surgery with a surgical prep solutions.
After the open portion of the fracture was cleaned, a small 3mm hole was drilled in the end of the ulna so that a flexible intramedullary nail could be inserted inside the ulna, acting as an internal splint. This type of treatment is called flexible nailing of pediatric fractures.
One week later he returned to clinic to have the sutures removed and a cast applied. The sutures were removed without difficulty, there was no evidence of infection, and he was placed in a cast to remind him that his arm that been broken, he shouldn’t use it to his his brother, and to slow down a little bit while the fracture heals!
