The Effect of Point-of-care Ultrasound Guidance for Distal Radius Fracture Reduction

Marcus Van Aarsen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Point-of-care Ultrasound, Distal Radius Fracture

Treatments: Procedure: Closed fracture reduction; Device: Point-of-care ultrasound

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02962206

107331

Details and patient eligibility

About

Distal radius (Colle's) fractures in adult patients are commonly reduced in the emergency department before casting. Standard of care currently requires that x-rays be performed before and after fracture reduction, and inadequate reductions may be subject to repeat attempts and are at a higher risk to require surgery. This study will assess the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in addition to standard care as a tool to decrease the angulation at the fracture site after a reduction is performed. If this angulation is decreased, it would suggest that POCUS for distal radius fracture reduction could decrease the number of failed reduction attempts and therefore the number of repeated reduction attempts.

Enrollment: 22 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• radiographically confirmed distal radius fracture

Exclusion criteria

• patients who do not consent
• patients with multiple acute injuries, open fractures, or other local fractures evident (a simple ulnar styloid fracture will not be considered an exclusion criterion)
• patients with neurovascular compromise
• patients with bilateral distal radius fractures
• patients with minimally displaced distal radius fractures that do not require closed reduction before casting

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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22 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard of care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients will undergo standard closed fracture reduction. The sedation type, reduction method, and immobilization method will be at the discretion of the treating physician. Point-of-care ultrasound will not be used.

Treatment:

Procedure: Closed fracture reduction

Experimental Group

Experimental group

Description:

Patients will undergo standard closed fracture reduction with the addition of point-of-care ultrasound use to assess post-reduction dorsal angulation. The sedation type, reduction method, and immobilization method will be at the discretion of the treating physician.

Treatment:

Device: Point-of-care ultrasound

Procedure: Closed fracture reduction