Management of Displaced Supracondylar Fractures of the Humerus Using Lateral vs. Crossed K-wires

Completely displaced (Type III) supracondylar fractures of the humerus are treated in the operating room and are held together with pins stuck into the bone. There are two ways of inserting the pins: crossed and laterally. The crossed method is often used because it is thought to be more stable, but this method also carries a risk of hitting the ulnar nerve. It is not known which method is more stable. Our hypothesis is that loss of reduction will be equivalent between the two pinning methods.