SCIENCE is a study is trying to improve the treatment of children who have a broken bone in the elbow called an ‘epicondyle fracture’.
Read moreThis study, which is being led by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, will compare the two commonly used treatments used accross Australia.
Read moreYou are free to decide if you want your child to take part
Read moreYour child will either be treated with a cast or splint, or with an operation.
Read moreEach of these routinely used treatments has potential advantages and disadvantages.
Read moreYou and your child can leave the study at any time.
Read moreThe results will be de-identified and available to you online.
Read moreThis project may not directly benefit your child. However, we hope that the project may benefit other children with this type of broken bone in the future. It could do this by helping doctors decide how to treat the broken bone, with surgery, or simply with a cast.
Each of these routinely used treatments has potential advantages and disadvantages.
Resting the arm in plaster cast for up to 4 weeks, to allow it to heal by itself:
The benefit is avoiding surgery. However, the main risk of this is that healing is less reliable, which may lead to an unstable elbow causing pain, stiffness and/or clunking and may rarely need more complex surgery later on.
Surgery to fix the bone, usually with a screw and a splint or cast for up to 4 weeks:
The benefit is more reliable healing. There are however risks of surgery, which include those associated with an anaesthetic (low risk), wound healing problems, pain or stiffness, injury to nerves supplying the fingers and breakage of the bone or metal. There is commonly the need for a second surgery to remove the screw once the bone has healed. These risks will be discussed further with your surgeon during a separate consent process.
There is also a possibility of unexpected or incidental findings as a result of the scans being done as part of your child’s normal routine care. Any new or abnormal findings will be discussed with participants and relevant clinical follow-up offered as necessary.
Dan, SCIENCE study doctor