Volar DRUJ Instability After Midshaft Both-Bone Forearm Fracture in a Toddler: A Case Report

JBJS Case Connect. 2021 Nov 17;11(4). doi: 10.2106/JBJS.CC.21.00578.

Abstract

Case: A 2.5-year-old male child presented to the clinic for evaluation of left wrist popping. Ten months earlier, he sustained a closed left both-bone forearm fracture (BBFF) treated with reduction and casting. His clinical course was complicated by redisplacement requiring secondary manipulation and casting before osseous union. His parents reported wrist popping with active motion in the setting of a 20° apex volar malunion of the midshaft radius. He has been treated with observation and monitoring of deformity remodeling.

Conclusion: Distal radioulnar joint instability is a potential complication of malunited BBFF, even in a pediatric population. Residual deformity, especially in the radius, should prompt clinical follow-ups after osseous union to assess functional recovery and deformity remodeling.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Forearm
  • Fractures, Malunited* / complications
  • Humans
  • Joint Instability* / diagnostic imaging
  • Joint Instability* / etiology
  • Joint Instability* / surgery
  • Male
  • Radius Fractures* / complications
  • Radius Fractures* / diagnostic imaging
  • Radius Fractures* / surgery
  • Wrist Joint