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Cleft epiphysis - tibia

Case contributed by Jeremy Jones
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Football injury.

Patient Data

Age: 15 years
Gender: Male
x-ray

There is a longitudinal lucency projected across the middle of the tibial epiphysis. There is apparent widening of the physis laterally.

Case Discussion

This longitudinal lucency projected across the epiphysis is not a fracture (it would be a Salter-Harris III), but a cleft epiphysis. There are normal developmental variants and can be mistaken for fractures.

In this case, the clinical team were not concerned about a fracture and after discussion with orthopedics, the child was mobilized and at the returns clinical was symptom free 48 hours later.  No further radiographs were taken.

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