[Diagnostics and therapy of osseous elbow lesions in the growing skeleton]

Osseous elbow lesions in the growing skeleton often involve problems of diagnosis, indication and therapy which are essentially different from those occurring in adult persons. Beyond its task to prove or to exclude a fracture line, X-ray diagnosis also has to search systematically for discernible soft tissue modifications (adipoid signs) or for disturbed correlations of positions and axes. When adopting an indication for conservative or surgical treatment, it has to be considered that rotation faults are not compensated during the further growth of bones and that an insufficient reposition of an epiphysis fracture causes a tendency towards an increase of the joint deformity when the bone is growing. The treatment of a bone fracture aims not only at a good elbow joint function which can be achieved even by a conservative, insufficient reposition, but also at an exact reposition and a reliable fixation during the short healing time. In most cases, the latter is only possible by means of fine metal implants (drilling wires and screws for little fragments which, by way of exception, do not touch the epiphyseal cartilage). This is the only way to avoid joint deformations and defective positions in adolescents which can promote the formation of destructive arthroses in adults. As opposed to fractures in adult persons, the functional result is not deteriorated by an additional immobilization for a period of three to four weeks effected in order to guarantee the so-called "minimal osteosynthesis".