Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the outcome of the crossed and the lateral pin configurations in the management of supracondylar humeral fractures in children in the hands of junior trainees.
Design: Prospective randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Level I Trauma Center.
Patients: Sixty children with supracondylar humeral fractures. The mean age was 5.1 years (1.5-9 years). The minimum follow-up period was 6 months, with no patients lost to follow up.
Intervention: Thirty patients were managed by crossed and 30 by the lateral method. All surgeries were performed by junior trainees in their first 3 years of training.
Main outcome measurements: Postoperative stability, ulnar nerve injury, range of motions, and pin tract infection.
Results: The crossed configuration was stable in all the patients, whereas the lateral method was less stable in 20% of the cases because the distal fragment rotated in 5 patients and posteriorly displaced in 1 patient. The difference was statistically significant with a P value of 0.031. Ulnar nerve neurapraxia occurred in 1 patient from the lateral group and it recovered in the fourth month, whereas no ulnar nerve injury occurred in the crossed configuration group. Two patients in the lateral group lost approximately 100 of elbow flexion.
Conclusions: This prospective randomized controlled trial showed that the crossed pin configuration method provided more stability than the lateral pin configuration, especially, in the hands of junior trainees in their first 3 years of training, and the difference was statistically significant.
Level of evidence: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.