Radial Nerve Palsy in Paediatric Humeral Shaft Fractures: Incidence and Management.

BACKGROUND: Humeral shaft fractures are relatively rare in the paediatric population. The purpose of our study was to retrospectively evaluate all humeral shaft fractures treated at a children's trauma centre and assess cases involving radial nerve injury. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated a group of 5 skeletally immature patients with radial nerve palsy out of a total of 104 patients with humeral shaft fractures treated in our hospital between January 2011 and December 2021. RESULTS: The study group consisted of four boys and one girl aged 8.6 to 17.2 years (average age 13.6). Mean follow-up duration was 18.4 months. We diagnosed two open and three closed fractures. There were two cases of neurotmesis, two cases of nerve entrapment within the fracture site and one case of neuropraxia. Bone union and functional recovery was achieved in all five patients. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Humeral shaft fractures complicated with radial nerve palsy are a challenging medical problem; 2. The incidence of radial nerve injury in the paediatric population is significantly lower than in adults; in our study, it accounted for 4.8% of all humeral shaft fractures; 3. Expectant observation without nerve exploration is reasonable in fractures caused by a low-energy trauma; 4. Early surgical nerve exploration combined with fracture stabilisation is highly recommended in fractures due to a high-energy trauma.

Humeral Shaft Fractures in Children Incidence, Management and Treatment Effects.

BACKGROUND: Humeral shaft fractures are relatively rare in children, with incidence between 0.4% and 3% of all fractures in children and between 10% and 20% of all humeral fractures. The purpose of our study was to retrospectively evaluate all humeral shaft fractures treated at children's trauma center from january 2012 till december 2021. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the group of 104 skeletally immature patients with humeral shaft fracture treated in our hospital. We have analyzed: age; sex; fracture type, management; time of bone healing; final effect and complications. RESULTS: The non-surgical group consisted of 73 patients (27 girls and 46 boys) with an average age of 8.03 (0.6 - 17.7), while the surgical group consisted of 31 patients (16 girls and 15 boys) with an average age of 12.47 (5,7- 17.8). The mean follow-up was 7.65 months (4-12) in non-surgical group, and 13.38 months (4-24) in surgical group. We have analyzed the results statistically, confirming increase the frequency of the above-mentioned fractures and increase the number of patients treated with surgery. We achieved good effect in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Humeral shaft fractures in children are relatively rare. Although in recent years, we have observed an increase of their frequency; 2. The vast majority of humeral shaft fractures are treated non-surgically with good clinical results; 3. Increase of number of patients treated surgically has been noticeable in the last decade; 4. Surgery is associated with a relatively low risk of complications and allows for cast withdrawal, which significantly improves the patients comfort.