title: Non-union of fractures in children who have osteogenesis imperfecta.
abstract: Although a fracture rarely fails to unite in a healthy child, non-union is not a rare occurrence in a child who has osteogenesis imperfecta. We identified twelve non-unions in ten patients from a population of fifty-two patients who had osteogenesis imperfecta. The average age of these patients when the diagnosis of non-union was made nine years, and the average age at the time of treatment was 12.5 years. All of the patients had had a decrease in functional ability as a result of the non-union. There were five femoral, four humeral, one radial, one ulnar, and one pubic non-union. Five of the non-unions were hypertrophic, and seven were atrophic. Eight of the nine ununited fractures that were operated on healed after excision of the non-union, intramedullary nailing, and bone-grafting. Three of the non-unions (in two patients) were not operated on, and the one patient in whom surgery failed had an amputation. Non-union was frequently associated with repeated fractures at a progressively deforming site.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, California 94304.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gamble
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rinsky
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strudwick
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Bleck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005599:Fractures, Ununited / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D010013:Osteogenesis Imperfecta / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011859:Radiography