A volar compartment syndrome of the forearm was identified following a
minimally displaced or angulated fracture of the radial head or neck in
three children. The fractures were due to a fall from a bed or from a
standing height on an outstretched hand. All three patients had symptoms
and signs that were consistent with elevated intracompartmental pressure in
the forearm when they were first examined, twelve to twenty-four hours
after the injury, and all were managed with an emergency fasciotomy of the
forearm. The radial fracture was treated without reduction in the first
patient, with manipulative closed reduction in the second patient, and with
open reduction and stabilization with Kirschner wires in the third patient.
All three patients had a full functional recovery.