ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Ulnar osteotomy is firstly recommended for the therapy of Monteggia fracture in children. But,there is still a lack of biomechanical evidence to confirm its efficacy and safety. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the stress distribution on the humeroradial joint after ulnar osteotomy and to provide evidence for confirming the angular size and mechanism for ulnar osteotomy. METHODS: Nine elbow joints were subjected to different positions of physiological, posterior 15° and posterior 30° osteotomy, followed by loaded at different flexion angles in the neutral, pronation and supination positions, respectively, and then the detailed stress distribution and area in the humeroradial joint were obtained using I-Scan Stress Distribution Test system. One elbow joint was scanned by three-dimensional reconstruction CT and the three-dimensional finite element model was established by ANSYS software. The model was loaded with the same conditions based on the I-Scan Test RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) I-Scan Test system showed that the stress concentration area was in the medial side of humeroradial joint when elbow joint extended after the posterior osteotomy. Following the buckling angle of elbows increased, the area of stress concentration was changed to posterior and stress and contact area of humeroradial joint decreased correspondingly. An increase of stress and decrease of contact area appeared after posterior osteotomy compared with physiological osteotomy. (2) According to the finite element analysis, after posterior 15° and 30° osteotomy, pressure of humeroradial joint concentrated in medial-posterior region and the stress was increased. (3) To conclude, ulnar posterior 30° osteotomy is superior to 15° in reducing the incidence of radial head redislocation of Monteggia fracture, but may induce osteoarthritis of humeroradial joint.