[Bilateral ulnar pseudoarthroses in an adult]

A case is presented of a 30-year-old woman with right ulnar fracture who developed pseudoarthrosis after conservative treatment. Healing occurred after osteosynthesis. Four years later she sustained fracture of the left forearm. Conservative treatment resulted in ulnar pseudoarthrosis, whereas radius healed well. The ulna healed after osteosynthesis. Six years later she had refracture of the right ulna, distally to the site of fracture and pseudoarthrosis 10 years before. Conservative treatment led to pseudoarthrosis of the right ulna again. Osteosynthesis produced good result. The case is interesting, because the same person suffered ulnar fracture on three occasions (twice on the right and once on the left), without intensive trauma, and pseudoarthrosis developed each time after conservative treatment, whereby classic osteosynthesis solved the problems. There are no similar report in the literature. The question is whether the patients had normal bone structure, and whether conservative treatment should be done as a standard theapeutic modality in ulnar fractures.