A Posteriorly Displaced Distal Metaphyseal Clavicular Fracture (Type IV AC Joint Dislocation-Like) in Children: A Case Report and Literature Review Study

Abstract

Fractures of the lateral end of the clavicle are common in pediatric patients; most of these fractures occur at the physeal level representing Salter Harris injuries. The vast majority of fractures of the lateral end of the clavicle are managed nonoperatively. In this report, we describe a unique type of fracture of the distal end of the clavicle in the pediatric patients in which the fracture occurs in the metaphyseal lateral clavicle with the proximal edge of the fracture displaced posteriorly through the trapezius muscle causing obvious deformity. It is similar in pathology to type IV AC joint dislocation. In this study we report this injury in eleven-year-old boy. Literature review showed that similar injuries were described before three times (two of them in pediatric patients). Due to the significant clinical deformity of this category with entrapment of the bone through the trapezius muscle, reduction (open or closed) of the fracture is the recommended treatment.