Displaced Supracondylar Fractures of the Humerus in Children- Treatment by Dunlop’s Traction BY LIEUTENANT COMMANDER HERBERT S. DODGE, MEDICAL CORPS,

Supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children are frequent. The fractures so designated are in the supracondylar area of the humerus just proximal to the el-bow, and do not directly involve the joint or the distal humeral epiphysis. Prior to this study, these fractures were treated routinely at the Naval Hospital, San Diego, by the method described by Dunlop. This study was prompted by a patient who sus-tamed her fracture in early August 1 968 and was treated by Dunlop’s traction. The appearance of her elbow when the result was evaluated in December 1 968, some four months after injury, was unsatisfactory to her parents. At that time a retrospec-tive review of all supracondylar fractures treated at this institution in the recent past was initiated, and the literature was also reviewed to determine the outcome of pa-tients treated by this method and others. Beginning in January 1 969, a slightly modi-fled method of Dunlop’s traction and a specific method of roentgenographic analysis were utilized in the treatment of all subsequent patients with this injury. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the experience at the Naval Hospital during the six-year period from October 1, 1 964, to September 3 1, I 970, with dis