Untere Extremität: die kindliche Schaftfraktur

Fractures of the lower extremities in children and adolescents are common injuries and the lower leg is more often affected than the upper leg. There are many more recommendations for the treatment of femoral shaft fractures than for treatment of lower leg shaft fractures. Femoral shaft fractures in young children are the domain of conservative treatment. For the upper and lower leg, elastic stable intramedullary nailing (ESIN) is frequently used as the operative procedure up to a body weight of 50kg; however, plate osteosynthesis represents a serious alternative. The advantages of ESIN are the small access route and more rapid load-bearing. For simple transverse fractures the intramedullary stabilization is clearly superior. The disadvantage of ESIN is the high intraoperative radiation exposure. Plate osteosynthesis can also be carried out in a minimally invasive way and longer areas of fragmentation can be effectively bridged.