Kirschner Wires May Break and Migrate Even after Fracture Healing

We present two cases with symptoms produced by migrated broken piece of fractured Kirschner wire after fracture healing. One case received surgery for right distal clavicle fracture and the broken piece of one Kirschner wire migrated to right chest wall inducing chest wall tenderness. Another case received surgery for right fifth metatarsal fracture and the broken piece of one pin migrated to metatarsophalangeal area between the second and third metatarsal head inducing weight-bearing pain of his right plantar foot. Both pins broke even after fracture healing. We emphasize that even achieving bony healing and well bent of pin ends, all the applied pins should be completely removed to prevent breakage and migration which may induce unpredictable complications. Meanwhile, from our two cases and two other cases reported in the literature, we found two common characteristics of wire break after fracture healing. The first, all the broken pins are too long in the initial appliance. The other, the break point of the pin is not at the joint or fracture site.