Late-Presenting Salter-Harris Type 2 Distal Tibial Physeal Fracture: Favorable Outcome Following Surgical Treatment.

Abstract

We report the case of an 11-year-old boy with a late-presenting distal tibial Salter-Harris type 2 injury. Before approaching us, he had undergone 2 failed attempts of treatment (closed reduction with plaster cast application and closed reduction and K-wire fixation with plaster cast application). On the 13th day after the injury, the fracture was treated with a closed reduction and metaphyseal canulated cancellous screw fixation and plate fixation of the fibular fracture. At skeletal maturity (4.5 years after the surgery), there was no physeal growth arrest or deformity. We report a favorable outcome in a late-presenting distal tibial Salter-Harris type 2 physeal injury after surgical intervention, which was effective despite the delayed presentation and prior treatment failures.Level of Evidence: Level V.