Supracondylar fracture

Lateral view of the left elbow.



Lateral view of the right elbow.

















This child had a trauma of the left elbow. As you can see there is an elevated posterior fatpad. But the question is, where is the fracture?

The normal humerus has a hockey stick shape on lateral view. If you draw a line along the anterior surface of the humerus, this line has to go through the middle one thirth of the epicondyle(see drawing).






If the line goes through the first one thirth, this is suspicious of a supracondylar fracture. See case and example.













Link: http://www.wikiradiography.com/page/Imaging+Supracondylar+Fractures+of+the+Humerus