Ultrasonographic localization of a displaced screw in the carpal canal. A case report.

We present a case of a 65-year-old patient with a surgically treated distal radius fracture. At 5-month follow-up, conventional radiography revealed breakage of the plate and a screw displaced into the volar soft tissue. Preoperative ultrasonography including dynamic assessment of the tendons showed the screw intratendinously as a hyperechogenic structure with repetitive echoes. This unusual localization was proven by surgery. Dynamic ultrasonography played an important diagnostic role in the localization of the loosened and displaced osteosynthetic material.