Paediatric lateral humeral condylar fracture outcomes at twelve years follow-up as compared with age and sex matched paired controls

Introduction Lateral humeral condylar fractures are the second most common elbow fractures in children. We present the long-term clinical and radiographic results. Material and methods All children (<16 years) in the geographic catchment area with lateral condylar fracture were asked to participate and 32 (76.2%) patients enrolled. Clinical and functional results are compared with randomly selected but age and sex matched normal controls at 12.4 years (range 10.6 to 16.0). Results Unsatisfactory clinical outcomes were found in 40.6% of the fracture cases vs. 6.3% controls (P = 0.003), according to Flynn's criteria. Flexion-extension range of motion was decreased >5 degrees in 13 cases (40.6%) and in four controls (12.5%, P = 0.013). One in four (N = 8, 25%) of the cases showed cubitus varus >5 degrees and 15.7% (N = 5) had cubitus valgus >5 degrees, compared to one cubitus valgus (3.1%) in controls (P = 0.002). Conclusion The majority of the adolescent and young adult patients (59.4%) with a previous paediatric lateral humeral condylar fracture had recovered well and showed good or excellent overall outcomes according to Flynn's criteria for elbow assessment after a mean of 12.4 years post-injury. Long-term sequelae was unchanged regardless of treatment.