Perinatal Femoral Fracture: A Ten-Year Observational Case Series Study

Skeletal injuries after cesarean section - a rare differential diagnosis of child abuse

Birth-related fractures are an important differential diagnosis of child abuse in early infancy. While fractures associated to vaginal deliveries are well known, cesarean section is not necessarily known to cause such injuries. Nevertheless neonatal fractures have been described after cesarean sections. To give an overview over the frequency and typical locations of such fractures, the appearance of symptoms and the timespan until diagnosis, a literature research was conducted via Google scholar and Pubmed, using the key words "cesarean section" and "fractures". Birth-related fractures after cesarean sections are rare but can occur, with the long bones being particularly affected. Therefore, birth injuries should always be considered in the forensic medical assessment of fractures in early infancy, even after cesarean section. To enable a differentiation between birth trauma and physical abuse, birth and operation records should be checked for surgical manoeuvres, possible difficulties during the procedure or other risk factors. Birth-related fractures are usually detected early; in rare cases, the diagnosis is made only weeks after birth.

Femoral fracture during breech vaginal delivery: A case report

Femoral fracture is a rare but significant foetal injury, more frequent and likely to happen when the foetus is malpositioned or in a breech presentation. Cesarian section does not appear to be protective and all recent publications report cases occurring during cesarian section. We report a case that occurred in a vaginal delivery of a single footling breech presentation. This complication allows us to remind that femur fracture is a complication of breech delivery whatever the modality. The prognosis is good with early diagnosis.

Dynamic and Static Splinting for Treatment of Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is one of the most common pediatric conditions. The current gold-standard treatment for children under six months of age with a reducible hip is bracing, but the orthopedic literature features several splint options, and each one has many advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this review is to analyze the available literature to document the up-to-date evidence on DDH conservative treatment.

METHODS

A systematic review of PubMed and Science Direct databases was performed by two independent authors (C.d.C. and A.V.) using the keywords "developmental dysplasia hip", "brace", "harness", "splint", "abduction brace" to evaluate studies of any level of evidence that reported clinical or preclinical results and dealt with conservative DDH treatment. The result of every stage was reviewed and approved by the senior investigators (V.P. and G.T.).

RESULTS

A total of 1411 articles were found. After the exclusion of duplicates, 367 articles were selected. At the end of the first screening, following the previously described selection criteria, we selected 29 articles eligible for full text reading. The included articles mainly focus on the Pavlik harness, Frejka, and Tubingen among the dynamic splint applications as well as the rhino-style brace, Ilfeld and generic abduction brace among the static splint applications. The main findings of the included articles were summarized.

CONCLUSIONS

Dynamic splinting for DDH represents a valid therapeutic option in cases of instability and dislocation, especially if applied within 4-5 months of life. Dynamic splinting has a low contraindication. Static bracing is an effective option too, but only for stable hips or residual acetabular dysplasia.