RT Journal
A1 Gordon, J. Eric
T1 Bone Mineral Density After Immobilization for Fractures in AdolescentsCommentary on an article by Dimitri Ceroni, MD, et al.: “Effects of Cast-Mediated Immobilization on Bone Mineral Mass at Various Sites in Adolescents with Lower-Extremity Fracture”
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2012
FD February 1
VO 94
IS 3
SP e19 1
OP 2
DO 10.2106/JBJS.K.01557
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.K.01557
AB 
Although the adult orthopaedic literature is replete with papers addressing the effects of fractures and consequent treatment on bone density and the potential effect of low bone density in terms of refracture, little has been written about fractures in children and their effect on bone density. This paucity of literature certainly is not related to a lack of recognition that refractures occur in the pediatric population; indeed, refracture following pediatric forearm fractures has long been recognized as a serious and common complication1,2. Nor is the paucity of literature related to a lack of recognition that osteopenia occurs following fractures and subsequent immobilization3. Rather, the tools to begin to quantitatively understand these changes are only now beginning to be applied to the pediatric population. This paper by Ceroni et al. and a recent paper by Fung et al.4 represent the beginnings of a real effort to understand the changes that occur in pediatric bones as a result of immobilization following fracture.