[Axis-related spontaneous correction after tibial fractures in childhood]

In the Department of Surgery at the Bergmannsheil University Hospital, a total of 50 children with measurable post-traumatic deformity of the axis after fracture of the lower limb were examined. Clinical and radiological monitoring was carried out 6 years after their accidents, which they had sustained at the age of 3-15 years. The real degree of axis deformity remaining was determined mathematically, and the correction tendency was analysed in three dimensions and projected graphically using sum vectors. This showed better results in the correction of axis deformations of the lower limb visualized on a-p X-ray photographs as varus or valgus than of deformations seen as ante- and recurvation of lateral X-ray photographs. The excentric arrangement of muscles in the dorsal part of the lower limb could be one reason for this. All 50 patients experienced a reliable spontaneous correction of the axis deformity with no complications of stimulatory growth disturbance with showing good functional results. Shaft fractures of the lower limb in children are generally treated conservatively, operative treatment being indicated only in the case of severe lesions of the soft tissue and in adolescent patients.