Management of Distal Ulnar Fracture Combined with Distal Radius Fracture

Jae Kwang Kim, Jong Oh Kim, Yong Do Koh

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

The distal ulna is composed of the ulnar styloid, ulnar head, and distal ulnar metaphyseal area. Most of distal ulnar metaphyseal fractures are associated with distal radius fractures and this incidence tends to be greater in osteoporotic elderly. Consideration of the treatment of distal ulna metaphyseal fracture should be addressed after treating a distal radius fracture. If it is stable, cast immobilization is preferred, however, if it shows malalignment or instability, an operative method should be considered. More than half of distal radius fractures are combined with an ulnar styloid fracture, and considerable cases of ulnar styloid fractures result in nonunion. However, ulnar styloid nonunion usually does not cause any problems on the wrist. Recent studies of distal radius fractures treated using a volar locking plate have reported that neither the initial displacement nor the size of a concomitant ulnar styloid fracture affects clinical outcome, which suggests surgical approaches may usually not be indicated for ulnar styloid fractures.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-160
Number of pages6
JournalThe journal of hand surgery Asian-Pacific volume
Volume21
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • Distal radioulnar joint
  • Distal radius fracture
  • Distal ulnar fracture

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