Extremity radiograph unknown 4

Anshuman Bansal

JHU SOM

abansal1@jhmi.edu

David Marker

JHU SOM

dmarker@jhmi.edu

Publication Date: 2009-09-09

Findings

Look at the two views of this patient's leg.

1. Do you know what type of fracture this is?

   a	Compound (open) Incorrect. In a compound fracture, bone is exposed outside the body. There is a high risk of infection with this type of fracture. Although you would need to see the patient to make sure this is not an open fracture, there is no evidence on this radiograph that this fracture is open.
   b	Compression Incorrect. Compression fractures occur due to compressive stress. These types of fractures usually occur in the spine.
   c	Greenstick Incorrect. In a greenstick fracture, the cortex of the bone remains partially intact. You can see that the cortex of both bones is completely fractured in this patient.
   d	Comminuted Correct! A comminuted fracture occurs when a bone breaks into multiple segments. In this patient borh the tibia and fibula are broken into multiple segments.