Aims and objectives
Elbow is a complex joint which is frequently involved in injuries usually secondary to indirect trauma.
It has been estimated that up to 15% of upper extremity's injuries which visit the emergency department annually involve the elbow.
Distal humerus fractures can appear in both condyles often in continuation with the joint space and represent the 2% of adult fractures.
Location determines the classification of distal humerus fractures.
There are fractures of radial head,
olecranon and coronoid process and combined fractures and dislocations.
AO Classification of...
Methods and materials
MDCT examinations of 155 patients (males:61 females: 94,
aged 26-68 years) with history of elbow trauma from a time period of nearly 4 years were retrospectively evaluated.
A 6 channel,
multislice scanner (Philips,
Brilliance 6) was used with 0,75mm collimation,
at 3mm thickness,
200mAs and 120 kVp at the time of injury and clinical assessment and sagittal and coronal reformatted images of the shoulder were generated from the axial and sagittal images respectively using the epicondyles as an anatomical reference.
Further humerus fracture classification using...
Results
Of the 155 patients with elbow trauma,
134(86%) had a total of 152 elbow fractures that induce one of the following patterns: Extrarticular fractures were presented in 26 (17%)patients,
partial articular fracture in 73 (51%) patients and complete articular were demonstrated in 53 patients(35%).Coronoid process of the ulna fractures( 55 patients,36%) and radial head ( 54 patients,36%) were the most common fractures.
Fiftyone (38%) of the patients with elbow fractures were males,
whereas 83 (62%) were females.
Eighteen (13,4%) of the patients presented with two...
Conclusion
In our study the most common anatomical fracture location was the ulnar coronoid process in 27 patients (18 % ,21-B1 type) ) ,radial head in 26 patients (17%,
22-B2 type).16 patients had a multrifragmentary articular fracture of the distal humerus ((11,9%,13-C3 type).The diagnosticacccuracy of theMDCT images provided valuable information on the mechanisms of injury ,on the morphology of the fractures and origin of the fragments.
Two are the most common injury mechanisms of the elbow.
The most common mechanism involves valgus and pronation stress which...
Personal information
Alexia Balanika,
Consultant Radiologist,
Computed Tomography Department,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
Evagelia Markou,
Resident of Radiology,
Computed Tomography Department,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
Christos Baros,
Radiologist,
Computed Tomography Department,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
George Georgiades,
Consultant Orthopaedics,
4th Orthopaedic Clinic,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
Fokion Theofanopoulos,
Consultant Orthopaedics,
4th Orthopaedic Clinic,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
Kostantinos Maniatis,
Resident of Orthopaedic,
4th Orthopaedic Clinic,
General Hospital of Athens "Asclepeion Voulas"
Georgia Galani,
Consultant Radiologist,
Computed Tomography...
References
1.R Barco,
SA Antuña.
Management of Elbow Trauma: Anatomy and Exposures.
Hand Clin.2015;31(4):509-19.
2.DA Nicholson,
PA Driscoll.
The Elbow.
BMJ 1993;307:1058-62.
3.Müller ME,
Nazarian S,
Koch P (1987).
Classification AO des fractures.
Tome I.
Les os longs.
Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
4.Rosas HG,
Lee KS.
Imaging acute trauma of the elbow.
Semin Musculoskelet Radiol.
2010 Sep.
14(4):394-411.
5.Pike JM,
et al.
Radial head fractures--an update.
J Hand Surg Am.
2009 Mar.
34(3):557-65.
6.Kobayashi Y,
et al.
Avulsion fracture of the medial and lateral epicondyles of the humerus....
