Ultrasonographic localization of a displaced screw in the carpal canal. A case report.
We present a case of a 65-year-old patient with a surgically treated distal radius fracture. At 5-month follow-up, conventional radiography revealed breakage of the plate and a screw displaced into the volar soft tissue. Preoperative ultrasonography including dynamic assessment of the tendons showed the screw intratendinously as a hyperechogenic structure with repetitive echoes. This unusual localization was proven by surgery. Dynamic ultrasonography played an important diagnostic role in the localization of the loosened and displaced osteosynthetic material.
Grechenig
W
W
Department of Traumatology, Karl Franzens University Medical School, Graz, Austria.
Peicha
G
G
Clement
H G
HG
Preidler
K W
KW
D000368:Aged; D001860:Bone Plates; D001863:Bone Screws; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography; D011885:Radius Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014953:Wrist / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*