Internal antecubital fold line: A new useful anatomical repair to identify the medial epicondyle and avoid iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury in patients with supracondylar fracture of the humerus

摘要

align="justify">Introduction: The supracondylar fracture of the distal humerus is the most common pediatric fracture around the elbow. The currently accepted techniques of fixation are two lateral parallel wires , crosswiring technique from the lateral side, two divergent wires laterally and two retrograde crossed wires. The retrograde crossed wires provide the best mechanical stability. Many children with this fracture have swelling around the elbow, making difficult the feeling of the anatomic landmarks for percutaneous pinning, increasing the risk of ulnar nerve injury. Objective: To evaluate the correspondence of the internal antecubital fold line with the internal epicondyle in patients with supracondylar fracture and the incidence of iatrogenic ulnar nerve injuries . Methods: We conducted a series of clinical cases. In the first group we included 56 children with supracondylar fracture Gartland type III, from August 2000 to September 2007, who underwent closed reduction and crossed retrograde nail fixation. In the second group we included 241 (481 elbows) outpatients with no anatomic abnormality. We used the extension of antecubital fold line to find the internal epicondyle in both groups. Results: The prolongation of the antecubital fold line intersected the medial epicondyle in all participants of the first group. In 96.3% of the participants in the second group, the extension of antecubital fold line intersected the internal epicondyle. None patient had iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury. Conclusions: The use of the antecubital internal fold line may be useful to identify the internal epicondyle and thus avoid iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury. Salud UIS 2012; 44 (2): 9-14