Operative Treatment of Medial Epicondyle Fractures in Children

Thirty-one patients with fractures of the medial epicondyle displaced more than 2 mm were evaluated an average of four years after their injury. Twenty-three patients had good results regardless of the degree of displacement or the presence of an elbow dislocation. One patient had a poor result due to a technical error in pin placement. The remaining seven patients had the fracture fragment trapped in the joint and did worse, with three poor results. There was no correlation between range of motion and degree of displacement, length of immobilization, time from injury to surgery, presence of a dislocation, or open versus percutaneous treatment. Operative treatment of medial epicondyle fractures displaced greater than 2 mm gave consistently good results with a good range of motion, good stability, no ulnar nerve symptoms, and no deformity.