Treatment of gap non-union of fore-arm bones

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out on 19 patients with gap nonunion of the radius and/or ulna. The average time passed since the original trauma and the treatment of gap nonunion was 4.5 months. All patients were suffering from pain, instability, limitation of elbow and wrist movements, partial loss of pronation supination, hand stiffness and three of them had discharging sinuses. All cases with diaphyseal gap nonunion were treated by dynamic compression plates together with tricortical strut iliac bone grafts 1 to 5 cm in length. After an average of 16 months follow up, 17 cases showed bony healing, a remarkable improvement of elbow and wrist motion, an improvement of pronation supination and a noticeable improvement of hand function. Excellent results were obtained in three cases, good in seven, fair in four and poor in three