Management of post-traumatic elbow instability after failed radial head excision: A case report

Radial head excision has always been a safe commonly used surgical procedure with a satisfactory clinical outcome for isolated comminuted radial head fractures. However, diagnosis of elbow instability is still very challenging and often underestimated in routine orthopaedic evaluation. We present th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Georgios Touloupakis, Emmanouil Theodorakis, Fabio Favetti, Massimiliano Nannerini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2017-02-01
Series:Chinese Journal of Traumatology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1008127517300160
Description
Summary:Radial head excision has always been a safe commonly used surgical procedure with a satisfactory clinical outcome for isolated comminuted radial head fractures. However, diagnosis of elbow instability is still very challenging and often underestimated in routine orthopaedic evaluation. We present the case of a 21-years old female treated with excision after radial head fracture, resulting in elbow instability. The patient underwent revision surgery after four weeks. We believe that ligament reconstruction without radial head substitution is a safe alternative choice for Mason III radial head fractures accompanied by complex ligament lesions.
ISSN:1008-1275