Treatment of Fractures in Children and Adolescents

There are many textbooks on fractures in adults, but few deal with those in children and young persons. Publications on fractures in children are usually written by orthope­ dic surgeons who are familiar with the problems presented by the growing skeleton. The principles taught in the best known works on fractures in children by BLOUNT (1954), RETTIG (1957), CHIGOT and ESTEVE (1957), EHALT (1960), POLLEN (1973), and RANG (1974), differ from each other only slightly. The controversy which has sur­ rounded the treatment of fractures in adults in recent years has never extended to chi1drens' fractures. Skillful nonoperative treatment of the latter leads to uneventful healing in the majority of cases, which cannot always be said of similar injuries in adults. "Considerable skill" is required to induce nonunion in a child, and its occur­ rence always results from a serious error of management. In the adult, prolonged immobilization frequently leads to muscle atrophy, joint stiffness, and disturbances of the peripheral innervation and circulation. Fracture treatment by internal fixation in the manner originally described by LANE (1894), LAMBOTTE (1892, 1907, 1913), KONIG (1905, 1931), and DANIS (1932, 1949) has gained wide acceptance only in the last 15 years. Since 1958, MULLER, ALLGOWER, WIL­ LENEGGER, and the other members of the Swiss Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (ASIF) have been developing techniques and instruments for the operative treatment of fractures. Front Matter....Pages I-XII Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Basic Histomorphology and Physiology of Skeletal Growth....Pages 3-19 Fracture Healing in the Growing Bone and in the Mature Skeleton....Pages 20-57 Treatment of Fractures in Children....Pages 58-73 Birth Injury. Thoracic, Abdominal, and Multiple Injuries. The Battered Child....Pages 74-83 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Fractures of the Clavicle and Scapula....Pages 87-95 Fractures of the Proximal Humerus....Pages 96-117 Fractures of the Shaft of the Humerus....Pages 118-129 Fractures of the Medial Epicondyle....Pages 130-138 Supracondylar Fractures of the Humerus....Pages 139-157 Fractures of the Elbow....Pages 158-178 Shaft Fractures in the Forearm....Pages 179-202 Fractures of the Distal Forearm....Pages 203-217 Fractures of the Hand....Pages 218-225 Fractures and Dislocations of the Vertebral Column....Pages 226-243 Fractures of the Pelvis and Acetabulum....Pages 244-253 Fractures of the Proximal Femur....Pages 254-267 Fractures of the Shaft of the Femur....Pages 268-293 Fractures In and Around the Knee Joint....Pages 294-323 Fractures of the Proximal Tibial Metaphysic....Pages 324-329 Fractures of the Lower Leg....Pages 330-349 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Malleolar Fractures....Pages 350-372 Fractures of the Talus and Calcaneus....Pages 373-384 Fractures of the Tarsal Bones, Metatarsals, and Toes....Pages 385-393 Amputations in Children....Pages 394-399 Summay....Pages 400-400 Back Matter....Pages 401-408