Efficacy of Percutaneous Lever Reduction with Kirschner Wires in the Treatment of Gartland Type III Supracondylar Humerus Fractures in Children

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous lever reduction with Kirschner wires (K-wires) in the treatment of Gartland type III supracondylar humerus fractures in children.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 49 pediatric patients with Gartland type III supracondylar humerus fractures who met the inclusion criteria and were treated between July 2024 and December 2025. The patients were divided into two groups according to the surgical reduction technique employed: the experimental group (n=24) underwent percutaneous K-wire lever‑assisted closed reduction and percutaneous K-wire internal fixation, while the control group (n=25) received routine closed reduction and percutaneous K-wire internal fixation. The two groups were compared regarding gender, age, operative time, number of intraoperative fluoroscopic exposures, number of cases converted to open reduction, Baumann's angle, the proportion of cases in which the anterior humeral line (AHL) passed through the middle one‑third of the humeral head, fracture healing time, complication rate, range of motion (ROM) of elbow flexion‑extension at the last follow‑up, and Flynn functional grading system.