: The management of residual elbow instability is a challenging and compelling issue for treating physicians. To overcome inherent drawbacks of dynamic external fixators, the internal joint stabilizer (IJS) has been developed, achieving successful results, but it can sometimes cause local tenderness or anesthetic concerns in the subcutaneous layer. In addition, a bulky anconeus can pull the hardware away from the axis of rotation with an increase in the lever arm and potential issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This study aimed to assess the validity and informational value of the material provided on TikTok regarding frozen shoulders. The hypothesis was that the video content on this platform would not provide adequate and valid information.
Methods: The current study focused on frozen shoulder videos on the TikTok social media platform.
J Shoulder Elbow Surg
November 2024
Background: In acute radial head (RH) fractures (RHFs), an RH prosthesis can be considered if open reduction and internal fixation are not technically feasible. This study provides the largest long-term clinical and radiological follow-up study of cemented bipolar Judet prostheses implanted to manage acute RHFs, either isolated (IRHFs) and associated with other elbow fractures (ARHFs). We compare their functional and radiographic outcomes to test the hypothesis that the bipolar design can achieve similar results in both groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fracture healing is a complex biological process that begins soon after a fracture has occurred. Whereas the role of vitamin D status on the maintenance of bone health is well established, the clinical effects of vitamin D deficiency in the healing of distal humeral fractures are less well explored. This study examines the role of vitamin D serum levels in distal humeral fractures (C2, C3) managed with open reduction and double plate fixation, by comparing its concentration in patients with or without radiographic signs of fracture healing and in control subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Total Elbow Arthroplasty (TEA) was first developed to treat severe rheumatoid arthritis, but its uses have grown to encompass end-stage osteoarthritis, post-traumatic arthritis, and distal humeral fractures. This study analyzes indications changes, long-term survival, complications, and post-operative functional results of the Coonrad-Morrey prostheses, enhancing the existing literature on this technique and substantial case history.
Methods: We included 122 arthroplasties in 117 patients, 28 males and 89 females (mean age of 67 years) treated in our hospital between 2002 and 2016.
The incidence of complex articular fractures of the distal humeral in adults has increased and will be growing in the future due to the greater incidence of high energy trauma and to the higher percentage of elderly population. Successful treatment is challenging for the needed balance between a stability of often comminuted fracture and early motion. Nonunion is a common complication after distal humerus fractures that is influenced by a variety of factors such as biology, in particular the blood supply of the metaphysis, the non-anatomical reduction of the fracture, the methods of fixation, and mechanical failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe incidence of complex articular fractures of the distal humeral in adults has increased and will be growing in the future due to the greater incidence of high-energy trauma and to the higher percentage of the elderly population. Successful treatment is challenging for the needed balance between the stability of often comminuted fractures and early motion. Malunion is a common complication after distal humerus fractures that is influenced by a variety of factors, such as biology, particularly the blood supply of the metaphysis, the nonanatomical reduction of the fracture, the methods of fixation, and mechanical failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe post-traumatic stiff elbow is a challenge for the surgeon, requiring expertise for the treatment choice and accurate planning. Stiffness can result from traumatic injury involving the periarticular soft tissues and the joint articular surfaces. In this article, we want to assess the impact of three-dimensional (3D) printed models in selecting the appropriate surgical strategy for this pathology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Orthop Trauma Surg
May 2024
Background: In acute treatment of radial head fractures, a radial head prosthesis can be considered if open reduction and internal fixation are not technically feasible.
Methods: We reviewed the data of 27 consecutive bipolar Judet radial head prostheses implanted in patients with unreconstructable radial head fractures and no other concomitant fractures (coronoid or olecranon factures). The lesions of the lateral collateral ligament were rated according to the McKee classification.
Purpose: This study aimed to assess the validity and informational value of TikTok content about epicondylitis. The hypothesis tested herein was that TikTok video content would not provide adequate and valid information.
Methods: The term "epicondylitis" was used as a keyword to comprehensively search for TikTok videos, and the first 100 videos that were retrieved were subsequently included for analysis.
The management of residual elbow instability is challenging in both acute and chronic injuries. Among the available devices, the hinged external fixator provides an additional joint stabilization while allowing an early motion, but it is clumsy and associated to high rate of pin track complications. To address these issues, an internal joint stabilizer (IJS) has been recently developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadial nerve entrapment is an uncommon diagnosis. The entrapment can occur at any location within the course of the nerve distribution, but the most frequent location of entrapment occurs around the elbow and involves the posterior interosseous nerve. Several potential sites of radial nerve entrapment around the elbow are identified: the capsular tissue of the radiocapitellar joint; hypertrophic crossing branches of leash of henry; the leading proximal tendinous and medial edge of extensor carpi radialis brevis; the arcade of Frohse and distal border of the supinator between its two heads.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe elbow is a joint extremely susceptible to stiffness, even after a trivial trauma. As for other joints, several factors can generate stiffness such as immobilisation, joint incongruity, heterotopic ossification, adhesions, or pain. Prolonged joint immobilisation, pursued to assure bony and ligamentous healing, represents the most acknowledged risk factor for joint stiffness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn elbow stiffness, pre-operative assessments should identify the articular and peri-articular tissues involved and, more specifically, they should determine how preserved the articular surfaces and osteo-articular congruity are. We will focus on the most important conditions and tissue reactions after trauma in order to understand the causes of joint stiffness. A logical surgical planning is based upon a deep knowledge of the anatomical obstacles and of the associated lesions that the trauma provoked with.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStiff elbow is a complex condition whose diagnosis and management are sometimes quite a challenge. Compared to the other joints, the elbow is disproportionately affected by loss of motion following trauma or surgery. It is unclear why the elbow tends to develop stiffness; its anatomical complexity, namely the presence of three highly congruent joints in the same capsule and synovial space, the tautness of the lateral and medial collateral ligaments through the whole range of motion, and the very close relationship among tendons, muscles, and skin 2 may account for this characteristic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Massive rotator cuff tears are defined as irreparable when tendon-to-bone or tendon-to-tendon continuity with the adducted arm cannot be restored and severe muscle fatty infiltration is present. Tendon transfer is a palliative procedure that improves shoulder function and relieves pain.
Methods: We reviewed the records of patients aged <65 years, whose irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears had been managed with teres major tendon transfer at our institution.
The lateral ulnar collateral ligament (LUCL) is a primary lateral stabilizer of the elbow that originates from the isometric center of the capitulum and inserts into the supinator crest of the ulna. LUCL injury may be due to trauma, chronic strain, or iatrogenic lesion. In patients with symptomatic LUCL insufficiency and recurrent posterolateral rotatory instability, surgical reconstruction can restore elbow stability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The earliest distal humeral hemiarthroplasty (or elbow hemiarthroplasty [EHA]) implants, which date back to the late 1940s, were performed in patients with severe elbow joint injuries as an alternative to arthrodesis. After some clinical reports and case studies with a short follow-up, published in the 1990s, a new "anatomically convertible" EHA model was introduced in 2005 and became a common surgical option to treat complex elbow fractures and their sequelae. We describe the mid- and long-term outcomes of EHA performed to treat acute intra-articular fractures or their sequelae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe surgical management of distal humerus fractures in adults generally consists in open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) or total elbow arthroplasty (TEA). Hemi humeral hemiarthroplasty (EHA) is a treatment option for unreconstructable intra-articular distal humerus fractures. It is a reasonable option in patients over the fifth decade and its potential advantages are to eliminate the complications related to the ulnar component such as wear of the hinge (busching wear) or the aspetic loosening of the ulnar component.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Correct sizing is challenging in radial head replacement and no consensus exists on the implant's optimal height and width to avoid elbow stiffness and instability. Studies exists, suggesting how to appropriately choose the implant size, but the manner by which the fracture pattern influences the surgeons' operative choices was not investigated.
Methods: The radial heads of four fresh-frozen cadaveric specimens were excised, measured, and fractured to simulate four patterns: three fragments (A); four fragments (B); comminuted (C); comminuted with bone loss (D).
Background: During the past decade, total elbow arthroplasty (TEA) procedures have increased because of an increase in the number of trauma patients. Even though most current posterior approaches to the elbow provide excellent joint exposure, they involve the risk of extensor mechanism injury and of eventual insufficiency, particularly in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) secondary to fracture. I describe a new triceps exposure approach for TEA, the anconeus-triceps lateral flap, which has proved valuable in patients with distal humeral and olecranon fracture malunion, and its preliminary results at a minimum follow-up of 24 months.
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