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Case Reports
. 2013 Nov;5(11):663-5.
doi: 10.4103/1947-2714.122312.

Posttraumatic nonunion of the clavicle in a 13-year-old boy causing an arteriovenous fistula

Feiran Wu  1 , Nicholas Marriage  1 , Adil Ismaeel  1 , Vince Smyth  1 , Musa Kaleem  1 , Tahir Khan  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Posttraumatic nonunion of the clavicle in a 13-year-old boy causing an arteriovenous fistula

Feiran Wu et al. N Am J Med Sci. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Context: Fractures of the clavicle are one of the most common injuries to the bone in childhood, but posttraumatic nonunion of pediatric clavicle fractures are extremely rare, with only isolated reports in literature.

Case report: We report a case of a posttraumatic painful nonunion of a clavicle fracture in a 13-year-old boy that caused symptomatic compression of the external jugular vein (EJV) and the formation of an arteriovenous fistula. The fracture was treated successfully with open reduction and internal fixation with a contoured recon plate 6 months following the injury. The fistula was treated by ligation and closure.

Conclusion: The patient made a full recovery 6 months following surgery and was asymptomatic with full range of shoulder movement. Fracture union was confirmed by computed tomography (CT) scanning and no residual fistula was found.

Keywords: Arteriovenous fistula; Arteriovenous fistula surgery; Clavicle fixation; Clavicle fracture; Clavicle nonunion; Clavicle surgery; Pediatric clavicle fracture; Pediatric nonunion.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Preoperative radiograph of right clavicle nonunion. (b) Computed tomography (CT) three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction demonstrating fracture union. (c) CT venogram showing enlarged right external jugular vein with no residual fistula present
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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