• Alexander J Hoffer, Stefan A St George, Daniel K Banaszek, Darren M Roffey, Henry M Broekhuyse, and Jeffrey M Potter.
• Department of Orthopaedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 11th Floor-2775 Laurel Street, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1M9, Canada.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2023 Aug 1; 143 (8): 509551035095-5103.

IntroductionA repeated closed reduction ("re-reduction") of a displaced distal radius fracture is a common procedure performed to obtain satisfactory alignment and avoid surgery when the initial reduction is deemed unsatisfactory. However, the efficacy of re-reduction is unclear. Compared to a single closed reduction, does a re-reduction of a displaced distal radius fracture: (1) improve radiographic alignment at the time of fracture union and, (2) decrease the rate of operative intervention?Materials And MethodsRetrospective cohort analysis of 99 adults aged 20-99 years with extra-articular or minimally displaced intra-articular, dorsally angulated, displaced distal radius fracture with or without an associated ulnar styloid fracture who underwent a re-reduction, compared against 99 adults matched for age and sex who were managed with a single reduction. Exclusion criteria were skeletal immaturity, fracture-dislocation and articular displacement greater than 2 mm. Outcome measures included radiographic alignment at fracture union and rate of surgical intervention.ResultsAt 6-8 weeks follow-up, the single reduction group had greater radial height (p = 0.045, CI 0.04 to 3.57), and less ulnar variance (p < 0.001, CI - 3.08 to - 1.00) compared to the re-reduction group. Immediately following re-reduction, 49.5% of patients met radiographic non-operative criteria, but by 6-8 weeks follow-up, only 17.5% of patients continued to meet these criteria. Patients in the re-reduction group were treated with surgery 34.3% of the time, compared to 14.1% of the time for patients in the single reduction group (p = 0.001). In patients aged under 65 years, 49.0% of those who underwent a re-reduction were managed with surgery, compared to 21.0% of those who had a single reduction (p = 0.004).ConclusionA re-reduction performed to improve radiographic alignment and avoid surgical management in this subset of distal radius fractures had minimal value. Alternative treatment options should be considered before attempting a re-reduction.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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