State-of-the-art treatment of forearm shaft fractures.

As the treatment of pediatric forearm shaft fractures has changed extensively over the past 30 years, it is worth discussing the current treatment modalities in these fractures. The recommendations are based on an ongoing evaluation of treatment procedures, problems, complications, and final results going back to 1976. Between 1976 and 1985, the 95.9% of fractures that were treated conservatively were tainted with bad functional results because a significant proportion healed with malalignment. The introduction of elastic-stable intramedullary nailing (ESIN) initiated a definitive change and the opportunity to stabilize unstable fractures with a less invasive method. Apart from some technical problems, the functional results of ESIN are very satisfactory. The external fixator is a good treatment for open, comminuted, or special distal dia-metaphyseal fractures in older children and adolescents. Therefore, we currently have a variety of methods to treat forearm shaft fractures in children using primary definitive fracture care (PDFC). The differentiated use of conservative and surgical measures should minimize final functional sequelae. A well-tried algorithm for this fracture region is outlined.