Late surgical treatment of lateral condylar fractures in children

We describe four cases of successful late surgical treatment of lateral condylar fractures of the humerus performed 8 weeks and 2, 5, and 14 years after injury and review the literature on the subject. We suggest that children with symptomatic nonunion and malunion of these fractures can benefit from late surgical treatment at the time of diagnosis. We describe the technique of functional reduction and the regions in which anatomic reduction is precluded by remodeling or gross displacement of the fragment.