We performed a prospective, randomised trial on 120 patients with redisplaced fractures of the distal radius comparing four methods of treatment. The four treatment groups, each containing 30 patients, were remanipulation and plaster, open reduction and bone grafting, and closed external fixation with and without mobilisation of the wrist at three weeks.

The radiological results showed improvement in angulation of the distal radius for the open reduction and bone grafting group. Functional results at six weeks, three and six months and at one year, however, showed no difference between any of the four groups. The main influence on final outcome was carpal malalignment which had a statistically significant negative effect on function.

We have reviewed the results of treating 75 fractures of the proximal femoral shaft in the presence of a cemented femoral prosthesis. A simple radiographic classification into four types is proposed, and suggestions are made on the appropriate management of each. Comminuted fractures around the implant need early revision, whilst spiral fractures in this region may be treated conservatively or by operation. Transverse fractures at the level of the tip of the prosthesis are difficult to manage, and may require open reduction and internal fixation.

The thalamus is the part of the calcaneus that supports the posterior articular facet and continues forward, becoming thinner towards the groove of the sinus tarsi. The main displacements after fracture depend on 1) a primary fracture line dividing the bone into anterior and posterior fragments, and 2) a semilunar fragment in the thalamic region. In the operation advised the sinus tarsi is exposed and the semilunar fragment is reduced by rotation in the opposite direction and is fixed to the medial fragment (the sustenaculum tali not being displaced) by a transverse Kirschner wire. The two main fragments are fixed by an antero-posterior wire. Plaster is applied and is retained for twelve weeks. Weight-bearing is not permitted for the first four weeks. There were no major complications in fifty-eight operations. The anatomical results were good: restoration of the tuber-joint angle by reduction of the semilunar fragment was maintained. The functional results were very satisfactory: permanent disability was slight or mild.

Displaced extension supracondylar fractures of the elbow 1. One hundred and ten children were treated by reduction and stabilisation by two pins inserted laterally at an angle of 30 degrees to one another.

2. The complications before and after treatment included fifteen nerve lesions in thirteen patients. The ulnar nerve was involved on one occasion only. Solitary radial nerve injuries occurred with postero-medial displacement of the distal fragment, while median nerve and brachial artery injuries were associated with postero-lateral displacement. All the lesions recovered spontaneously.

3. There were no ischaemic complications after treatment, despite the ligation of one ruptured brachial artery.

4. The average stay in hospital was four days, compared with twenty days for thirty-two other patients treated in traction because of gross oedema.

5. Of eighty patients seen six months to five years after the fracture, seventy (or 87·5 per cent) had excellent or good results, seven patients with marked varus deformities had fair results, and two patients had poor results with very stiff elbows.

Displaced flexion fractures 1. The clinical features, complications and treatment of seventeen cases are described.

2. There were no complications involving the median or radial nerves or the brachial artery, but three patients had a lesion of the ulnar nerve.

3. Nine children had closed reduction and fixation by two lateral percutaneous pins.

4. Reduction was difficult and the results poor compared with extension fractures. Closed reduction failed in one-third of the children, and the functional and cosmetic results were unsatisfactory in over half the patients reviewed.

1. The results of treatment of fractures of the shaft of the femur in fifty patients aged sixty-five years and over seen over a twelve-year period are presented.

2. Half of the patients were treated by internal fixation and half by conservative methods. The mortality in the former group was three times that of the latter.

3. The length of hospital stay was only slightiy less after internal fixation because many patients in both groups had to remain in hospital because of social problems.

4. The indications for internal fixation of fractures of the shaft of the femur in elderly patients are discussed.

1. The femoral head has been examined in specimens taken from cadavers, patients suffering subcapital fracture of the femoral neck and patients undergoing total replacement arthroplasty for osteoarthrosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

2. Lesions have been seen, some of which appear to be uniting fatigue fractures of individual trabeculae.

3. It is suggested that excessive cyclical loading, sometimes leading to fatigue fractures, may represent a fundamental pathological process of general importance in the evolution of certain skeletal and articular diseases.

1. The processes of repair and union were studied in six fractures of the lower end of the radius, ranging in age from ten days to five and a half months.

2. The major pathway to union is medullary, through the proliferation around the fracture of vascular granulation tissue with osteogenic power. This invades and then bridges the fracture and is followed by the laying down of trabeculae of new bone.

3. Success depends on the growth of new capillaries across the fracture line, some of which mature and re-establish the meduilary circulation.

4. Indriving of the lateral cortex of the proximal fragment into the distal spongy medulla at the time of injury (in Colles's fractures) permits bridging between proximal periosteal and distal meduliary callus. Otherwise periosteal proliferation plays only a subsidiary role in union.

5. Fissure fractures of the lower articular surface were frequent and they also healed by the invasion of granulation tissue proliferating in the medulla nearby.

1. One hundred and eighty-one fractures of the tibial shaft were treated by rigid fixation using conventional plates.

2. Comparison is made with series of fractures treated by the closed method.

3. The incidence of non-union, or delayed union requiring a long period of plaster immobilisation, was found to be less with the open method of treatment.

4. Plating was also found to give better functional results with a shorter period of disability except in severe open fractures.

5. Plating is a valuable method of treatment for tibial fractures in the elderly.

1. Sixty-eight crush fractures of the articular surface of the lateral tibial condyle have been analysed.

2. Follow-up examination at a minimum of three years after injury was carried out in all cases.

3. The only factors which appeared to influence the results were the extent of the original depression, and if this was severe, the degree of restoration obtained by the treatment. Prolonged plaster fixation was avoided.

4. At review, no patient complained of symptoms which were attributable to damage to ligaments or menisci and no patient had symptoms of late onset.

5. The results suggest that there is nothing to be gained by open reduction if the lateral condyle is depressed by less than 10 millimetres, as conservative treatment gives good results. If the depression is more severe, however, a good result can only be assured if the articular surface is successfully reconstituted, but this is sometimes difficult to achieve. It is not possible to reconstitute the surface by non-operative means.

1. Thirty-nine displaced fractures of the lateral humeral condyle in children are reported. In one-third of the children the injury was accompanied by postero-lateral dislocation of the elbow. In some cases there was evidence that dislocation had occurred even when there was little persistent displacement of the condylar fragment.

2. All the fractures were treated by internal fixation with a specially designed screw. Thirtyfive children attended for review.

3. lt is concluded that all displaced fractures should be treated by internal fixation and that the method described is simple and reliable. Undisplaced fractures, or those with little displacement, may be treated conservatively when there is no evidence of associated dislocation of the elbow.

1. The management of fractures in seven haemophiliacs and one patient with Christmas disease is described.

2. The problems of management are essentially those associated with haemorrhage into the soft tissues.

3. There is no delay in the healing of fractures, which usually occurs with a relative lack of periosteal callus.

4. The principles of transfusion therapy are discussed.

1. The radiological appearances of the fragments in 100 trochanteric fractures have been analysed.

2. A simple practical classification enables the correct method of reduction to be chosen.

3. In Type I fractures the proximal fragment consists of the head and neck alone. In Type II fractures the head, neck and a major part of the great trochanter constitute the proximal fragment.

4. The key role of the greater trochanter in influencing the displacement of the fragments is discussed.

5. For reduction, Type I fractures require rotation of the distal fragment to a neutral position. Type II fractures reduce in some degree of lateral rotation.

1. A method of treating Smith's fracture and Barton's anterior fracture-dislocation of the wrist by internal splintage is described.

2. The application of a special buttress plate fixed to the lower anterior aspect of the radius is advocated; no external splintage is used.

1. Practical experience has shown that subcapital fractures of the femur unite freely if reduction is stable and fixation is secure.

2. Stable reduction is obtained when the muscular and gravitational forces tending to redisplace the fracture are opposed by equal and opposite counterforces, and inherent stability is believed to depend upon the integrity of the flared cortical buttress at the postero-inferior junction of the femoral neck and head.

3. In the stable subcapital fracture a state of equilibrium is reached when the forward and upward thrust of the fixation appliance in the femoral head is opposed by the counterthrust of the closely applied and cleanly broken fragments at the postero-inferior aspect of the fracture. When the postero-inferior cortical buttress is comminuted, inherent stability is lost, lateral rotation deformity recurs and the fixation device is avulsed from the cancellous bone of the head.

4. Stability may be restored by reduction in the "valgus" position, by various forms of osteotomy, by refashioning the fracture fragments or by a postero-inferiorly positioned bone graft. Theoretically, stability may also be obtained by a double lever system of fixation in which an obliquely placed fixation device or bone graft is combined with a horizontally disposed wire, pin, nail or screw crossing it anteriorly. Multilever fixation by three or more threaded wires or pins inserted at different angles and lying in contact at their point of crossing may likewise provide stability.

5. Fixation by two crossed screws has been chosen for clinical trial in 100 displaced subcapital fractures. Imperfect positioning of the screws in seven patients has been followed by early breakdown of reduction and non-union, but satisfactory positioning has been associated with radiological union in fifty patients who have been observed for twelve months or more.

6. Ultimate breakdown in some of these fractures is certain to follow avascular necrosis, and this complication has already been seen in a few patients treated by cross screw fixation more than two years ago. It is also expected that non-union will occur in some of those patients still under observation for less than a year. Even so, these preliminary findings indicate a percentage of union far greater than that obtained by previous methods of treatment, and, although statistically inadequate, they are presented in support of the belief that it should no longer be considered impossible to achieve the same percentage of union in subcapital fractures of the femur as we are accustomed to expect in the treatment of fractures elsewhere. It is not implied, however, that this ideal will be reached merely by the adoption of some form of double or multilever fixation, and much will continue to depend upon the quality of the radiographic services, the precision of reduction and the perfection of operative technique.

7. Every advance in our understanding of what is meant by "perfection of operative technique" lends increasing support to the ultimate truth of Watson-Jones's (1941) dictum: "A perfect result may be expected from a technically perfect operation; an imperfect result is due to imperfect technique." But the simple and foolproof method of fixation which will end the search for technical perfection in the treatment of the displaced subcapital fracture has yet to be evolved, and many questions remain to be answered about this injury. Nevertheless, it is clear that the surgeon should now be prepared to attribute early mechanical failure in the treatment of femoral neck fractures to his own shortcomings, and the temptation to blame capital ischaemia for every disaster should be resisted.

1. A large proportion of fractures were poorly reduced in this series either because the method used was inadequate or because it was inexpertly applied. At first it was thought that immobilisation in plaster gave adequate fixation but it was impossible to be certain that the reduction was not sometimes lost in the interval between manipulation and the check radiograph taken immediately after plaster had been applied. This suggested that in some cases fixation might be lost early although late redisplacement was not seen.

2. The late subjective results in patients with unreduced fractures were good, but there was some loss of thumb mobility partly due to varus deformity of the metacarpal bone and partly due to incomplete compensation for generalised stiffness in and around the joint.

3. Since loss of movement caused little disability and joint involvement rarely produced symptoms due to osteoarthritis, it seems doubtful whether the use of complex methods of treatment is justifiable.

4. Women seem to be predisposed to painful symptoms at the carpo-metacarpal joint of the thumb whether they occur after fracture or in association with non-traumatic osteoarthritis of the joint.

Two hundred and thirty-two ankle fractures were treated in the orthopaedic department of the Royal Portsmouth Hospital between 1959 and 1960. Seventy-one fractures treated by internal fixation with screws have been seen at follow-up examination. Results show that open reduction, secure and accurate internal fixation and early movement without plaster or other splintage is a treatment which in most cases has been followed by a short convalescence, few post-operative complications, and a painless ankle and with good function.

1. The results of rehabilitation of 181 patients with fractures of the shaft of the femur are analysed

2. The results are mainly dependent on the severity of the fracture and the method of reduction and immobilisation. It is stressed that full-time rehabilitation can help to attain the best results.

3. The advantages of intramedullary nailing of fractures of the femoral shaft are discussed.

Eighty patients who sustained a fracture of the floor of the acetabulum are reviewed, and the mechanism of the injury was investigated by clinical and experimental studies. The results of the injury in fifty patients are presented, with an account of the three clinical types of acetabular fracture.

1. A series of fractures of the forearm has been treated by exceptionally rigid internal fixation with a special plate and screws.

2. The plate and screws are described.

3. The results of rigid fixation are found to be: i) reliability of union, and ii) good final function.

4. The lessons learned regarding the application of the plate and the after-treatment of the forearms are recounted.

1. Compression stress fractures are described.

2. These fractures have all been previously described in various bones but have not been associated as a clinical or radiological entity.

3. The greyhound suffers a compression stress fracture of the navicular bone. This is described with certain deductions therefrom.