J. Hearst Welborn, Jr, MD
Hand Surgeon and Orthopedic Surgeon
Private Practice, Marin
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David Nelson , MD Private Practice,
San Francisco
Webmaster, eRadius
Associate Editor, J Hand Surgery
Director, San Francisco Bay Area Hand Club |
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(case submitted August 10, 2007)
Synopsis: 35 YO white male fell off his horse playing polo.
The patient underwent a closed reduction in the emergency room and was placed into fiberglass splints, dorsally and volarly (the fiberglass allows a better radiographic examination).
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These are the xrays (PA, lateral) obtained after closed reduction.
The reduction allowed a better evaluation of the fracture characteristics.
(3) What would your first option be? If that does not work, what would your fallback option be?
My personal first option would be a volar plate. I think that there is a significant amount of bone attached to the subchondral bone (see the lateral). The plate will need to be long enough to span the metaphyseal and the distal shaft fractures. I would have both a fracture plating system in the room (possibility of single screws to fix specific fratures) and an external fixator.
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