A study of wrist injuries in children: the incidence of various injuries and of premature closure of the distal radial growth plate.

There were 362 wrist injuries in 359 patients under 18 years of age who attended the Accident & Emergency Department, St James's University Hospital, Leeds, over a 1-year period. These included soft tissue injuries (53%), epiphyseal injuries (4%) and fractures of the distal forearm or carpus (43%) which were reviewed 3 years after injury. At re-examination, a repeat X-ray was undertaken and this showed evidence of premature epiphyseal fusion in three of the 281 who returned for review and in these three patients there was a history of persistent symptoms in the affected wrist or forearm. It is suggested that patients with an obvious epiphyseal injury or those who have persistent symptoms following an injury to the wrist should be followed carefully to skeletal maturity in order to detect early partial or total closure of the growth plate.