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Fracture non-union

Last revised by Sonam Vadera ◉ on 3 Jan 2025

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Rezaee A, Vadera S, Elfeky M, et al. Fracture non-union. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 18 Jan 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-64587

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-64587

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/64587

rID:

64587

Article created:

30 Nov 2018, Amir Rezaee

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Amir Rezaee had no recorded disclosures.

View Amir Rezaee's current disclosures

Last revised:

3 Jan 2025, Sonam Vadera ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Sonam Vadera had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Sonam Vadera's current disclosures

Revisions:

13 times, by 8 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal

Tags:

refs, orthopaedic, ortho, orthopedic, cases

Synonyms:

Non-union of fractures
Non-union of a fracture
Fracture nonunion

Fracture non-union describes the failure of normal fracture healing processes. It occurs when both the periosteal and endosteal healing responses stop, resulting in no formation of bridging bone ². Solid bone healing will not occur without further treatment or intervention.

hypertrophic: abundant callus formation; radiolucent line (unmineralized fibrocartilage) at the non-union site
oligotrophic: little or no callus formation; diastasis at the fracture site
atrophic: bony surfaces partially resorbed; no callus formation; osteopenia; sclerotic avascular bone segments; segmental bone loss
infected: osteolysis; osteopenia; sclerotic avascular bone segments; segmental bone loss
synovial pseudoarthrosis: variable appearance (hypertrophic, oligotrophic, or atrophic)

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Fracture non-union

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