Objective      To investigate the medium-term effect of absorbable screw to treat the humerus lateral condyle fracture in children.       Methods      A retrospective analysis was carried out on the children with humerus lateral condyle fracture undergoing orthopaedic surgery in our department from January 2007 to June 2008. Among them

56 cases with completed follow-up who were treated by absorbable screw were assigned as Group A

and another 32 cases with follow-up who were fixed by the kirschner wire were assigned as Group B. According to Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) elbow assessment scoring system

the elbow function

fracture healing

epiphyseal growth

and bone hyperplasia were evaluated

and the results were analyzed by Chi-square test with the aid of software SPSS 14.0.       Results      All surgical cases were got fracture healing. According to HSS score system

there were 42 cases getting excellent

9 cases good

and 5 cases acceptable outcomes in the Group A

with an excellent rate of 91.1%

while the Group B had 23 cases achieving excellent

6 case good

and 3 case acceptable outcomes

with an excellent rate of 90.6%. There were 8 cases of scar hyperplasia and 9 cases of bone hyperplasia in humeral lateral condyle in group A

while there were 6 cases of scar hyperplasia and 4 cases of bone hyperplasia in humerus lateral condyle in group B. There was no significant difference in theHSS score (P=0.999)

car hyperplasia (P=0.582)

and bone hyperplasia in humerus lateral condyle (P=0.887) between the 2 groups.       Conclusion       Compared with kirschner wire in treatinghumerus lateral condyle fracture in children

absorbable screw has no difference in the elbow function

bone healing

epiphyseal growth

and hyperostosis. So

it can be used as an option in the treatment of humerus lateral condyle fracture for children.