Intraarticular fractures of the distal humerus in adult are rare and difficult to treat. The recent trend has been immediate open reduction, stable interal fixation, and early postoperative active motion.
The anatomic complexity of the distal hmerus combined with the frequency of comminution and displacement makes surgicsl reonstruction difficult.
In this paper, we analized a series of twenty one inteercondylar fracture ofthe distal and of thehumerus that were treated by closed or open reduction from jan. 1987 to Dec. 1991 and
@ES the results were as follows.
@EN 1. The main causes of the injury were fall after 50 year old age and traffic accident before 50 year old age.
2. The most frequent injury type was type III(52.4%) by Riseborough and Radin26)'s classification, C2 type(42.9%) by Nuller22)'s classification.
3. Of fourteen cases treated by open reduction and rigid internal fixation, 9 cases(64.3%) had an good results and of 7 cases treated by nonsurgical method, only 2 cases(28.6%) had good results.
4. Anatomic restoration by open reduction and rigid internal fixation in conjunction with early motion was associated with satisfactory results.
5. In cases of severe comminuted fracture in the elderly, "Bag of Bones" technique andearly active exercise produced tha small risk of a stiff and painful elbow although the results in this method were no better than internal fixation.
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