THE EFFECT OF SURGICAL TIMING ON OPERATIVE TIME AND QUALITY OF REDUCTION

Supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children are among the most common paediatric fractures, and yet present one of the greatest technical challenges for management. Traditionally treated as surgical urgencies, recent literature calls that belief into question. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the elapsed time from injury to surgery of Gartland Type III supracondylar fractures on operative time and quality of reduction.A retrospective review of all Gartland Type III supra-condylar factures treated by closed reduction and percutaneous pinning at our hospital between January 2003 and April 2006 was performed. Subjects in this consecutive series underwent a formal chart review to extract necessary data. The intra-operative fluroscopic images were utilised to assess the quality of reduction. All images were analyzed by three independent blinded reviewers on two separate occasions. Parameters measured on the AP images included: Baumann’s Angle, Humerocapitellar angle, Gordon In...