Chronically unreduced elbow dislocation treated with box-loop ligament reconstruction: The first case series.

Objectives: Describing our initial experience of performing box-loop ligament reconstruction in patients with chronically unreduced elbow dislocation.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: One tertiary referral centre.

Patients/participants: Six patients treated with box-loop ligament reconstruction from 2015 to 2018 were included in this study.

Intervention: Box-loop ligament reconstruction.

Main Outcome Measurement: Quick disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (Q-DASH) and Mayo elbow performance index (MEPI) score.

Results: All subjects exhibited substantial increase of range of flexion-extension motion of the affected elbow, from a mean of 24.2° initially to 119.2° postoperatively during the follow-up period (median = 14 months, range 12-31 months). The subjects recorded an average MEPI score of 82.5 points, and average Q-DASH score of 16.2 points. There were no complications that occurred.

Conclusions: This is the first case series of patients with chronically unreduced elbow dislocation treated with box-loop ligament reconstruction. Using this technique, all subjects had excellent outcome without any complication. Further studies with larger samples and better methodology are required to investigate the safety and efficacy of such technique.