This multicentre prospective clinical trial aimed to determine whether early administration of alendronate (ALN) delays fracture healing after surgical treatment of fractures of the distal radius. The study population comprised 80 patients (four men and 76 women) with a mean age of 70 years (52 to 86) with acute fragility fractures of the distal radius requiring open reduction and internal fixation with a volar locking plate and screws. Two groups of 40 patients each were randomly allocated either to receive once weekly oral ALN administration (35 mg) within a few days after surgery and continued for six months, or oral ALN administration delayed until four months after surgery. Postero-anterior and lateral radiographs of the affected wrist were taken monthly for six months after surgery. No differences between groups was observed with regard to gender (p = 1.0), age (p = 0.916), fracture classification (p = 0.274) or bone mineral density measured at the spine (p = 0.714). The radiographs were assessed by three independent assessors. There were no significant differences in the mean time to complete cortical bridging observed between the ALN group (3.5 months (se 0.16)) and the no-ALN group (3.1 months (se 0.15)) (p = 0.068). All the fractures healed in the both groups by the last follow-up. Improvement of the Quick-Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) score, grip strength, wrist range of movement, and tenderness over the fracture site did not differ between the groups over the six-month period. Based on our results, early administration of ALN after surgery for distal radius fracture did not appear to delay fracture healing times either radiologically or clinically.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2013;95-B:1544–50.

The ratio of the incidence of trochanteric to cervical fractures increased with age in the elderly female population, but the reason for this fact remain unclear.

The purposes of this study were to investigate whether or not there are specificities of the local distribution of mechanical properties at the trochanteric region of the elderly female using a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). Human proximal femurs were harvested from seven female cadavers (67–88 years) and proximal femur was coronally sectioned into halves across the center of neck. The surface of the coronal section was polished in order to achieve flat surfaces of smoothness well below the surface resolution in scanning with SAM. Bone tissue density and elastic modulus were calculated from the acquired SAM data. Mechanical properties were measured at the lateral and medial trochanter. Cortical bone tissue of the lateral trochanter had significantly lower elastic modulus than that of the medial trochanter in the all specimen over 70s(p<0.05). Trabecular bone tissue of proximal region of the lateral trochanter had significantly lower elastic modulus than that of distal region in all 80s specimens (p<0.05). Decrease of the elastic modulus of cortical bone in the lateral trochanter and low value of the elastic modulus of trabecular bone in the proximal region of the lateral trochanter may be related to the increase of the ratio of trochanteric to cervical fractures with age in the elderly female population.

Nine children sustained a second fracture of the distal humerus after union of an ipsilateral supracondylar fracture which had healed with cubitus varus. There were eight boys and one girl with a mean age of five years (1 to 8) at the time of the second fracture which occurred at a mean of 1.5 years after the first. In all patients, the second fracture was an epiphyseal injury of the distal humerus, either associated with a fracture of the lateral metaphysis below the site of the previous supracondylar fracture, or a fracture-separation of the entire distal humeral epiphysis. This suggests that the physis and epiphysis tend to be more subject to injury than the metaphysis of the distal humerus in children who have had a previous supracondylar fracture with varus malunion.