The treatment of intercondylar fractures in adults should be determined on the basis of the amount of rotatory deformity and comminution.
Severely comminuted fractures do not lend themselves to open reduction and are best treated with skeletal traction and gentle closed manipulation when necessary.
In the minimally displaced fractures, good results can be obtained by immobilization in a plaster cast.
The findings in this small series suggest that fractures with significant rotatory deformity but without gross comminution are more likely to have a good result when skeletal traction is used rather than open reduction and internal fixation.
Open reduction and adequate internal fixation are not easy and would seem to offer little chance of a good outcome. We feel that open reduction is very rarely indicated.