RESEARCH ARTICLE
Radiation Exposure in The Treatment of Pediatric Supracondylar Humerus Fractures: Comparison of Two Fixation Methods
Themistoklis Tzatzairis1, *, Gregory Firth1, Paulien Bijlsma1, Dimitrios Manoukian1, Claudia Maizen1, Manoj Ramachandran1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2021Volume: 15
First Page: 22
Last Page: 26
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-15-22
DOI: 10.2174/1874325002115010022
Article History:
Received Date: 31/07/2020Revision Received Date: 17/11/2020
Acceptance Date: 14/12/2020
Electronic publication date: 12/04/2021
Collection year: 2021

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Aim:
The study aims to determine the estimated radiation exposure of two different types of fixation (crossed vs lateral-entry K-wires) for displaced supracondylar fractures at a Major Trauma Centre in London.
Methods:
A retrospective review was performed between 2015 and 2019 in children (<16 years old) who underwent either Closed Reduction and Percutaneous Pinning (CRPP) or open reduction and K wire fixation for a displaced supracondylar fracture (Gartland II, III and IV) of the humerus.
Results:
The overall mean radiation dose and duration with crossed K-wire fixation was statistically lower when compared with two lateral K-wires. The mean radiation dose increased with increasing Gartland Grade - for Gartland Grades II, III and IV respectively.
Conclusion:
The current study showed statistically significant decreased radiation dose in crossed K-wire fixation method, compared to lateral-entry fixation. No difference was found regarding the cosmetic/functional outcome when Flynn’s criteria were applied.