8 year old boys break their collarbones all the time. It's rarely of any consequence unless the bone ends break through the skin and then they go to the OR for plating of the fracture and a wash-out.
The clavicle is usually fractured by a direct blow but can also be broken by transmitted force, but it is not often broken by sneezing.
Unfortunately for this 8 year old boy his broken collarbone was caused by a sneeze AND an underlying lesion in the clavicle, yet to be definitively diagnosed, which will likely be Ewing's Sarcoma (or another form of cancer of the bone). Fractures of this type are called pathologic fractures. If this ends up being Ewing's the prognosis is fairly good for recovery after chemo and XRT and removal of the clavicle. I do not know if a prosthetic will be fitted.
A normal chest Xray is displayed above so that you may see what normal clavicles look like. The abnormal film is included to the right with red dots outlining the mass in the clavicle. Please keep this child in your prayers.
My little man is 8 and thinking about this being him breaks my heart. It is one thing for ME to have health issues, but if one of my kids ever did I would fall apart. I will think good thoughts for this guy. I can't imagine what his family is feeling right now.
ReplyDeletewow, hope the little guy makes it ok. he should be chasing soccer balls not stuck in chemo
ReplyDeleteReminds me of why I hated Pediatrics, 3 year olds with Brain Tumors while Fidel Castro lives to be 110...and every X-ray looks like a fracture cause of those damn Epiphyseal plates...I'm gonna think happy thoughts that its a Unicameral Bone Cyst, or an Osteoid Osteoma.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask a question? If they don't put in a prosthetic clavicle, how does that affect function? Don't you have to have one?
ReplyDeleteAww =(
ReplyDeleteI hope those pointy-head docs can fix him up and get him back to baseball.
And here begins the looong parent walk into the unknown.
ReplyDeleteI'll pray for them too.
Lots of prayers from here also!
ReplyDeletenaah don't really need a clavicle..If he survives, he'll be fine without one..
ReplyDeleteThe normal film says "erect".
ReplyDeletehuh-huh huh...sweet.
Poor little guy. I'd give him a clavicle.
ReplyDeleteHello. Seeing as I can't find an e-mail address to shoot you questions I will post here. I was wondering if you ever ended up putting a blog about why you thought the HPSP was a good idea.
ReplyDeletei don't think i ever mentioned putting up a blog about the hpsp, but i did post about it under 'what about a military scholarship to medical school'. there's quite a few comments there and hope it helps.
ReplyDelete