Terrible triad of the elbow: a case report of a new variant.

ABSTRACT

The usual terrible triad of the elbow consists of posterior dislocation of the elbow, radial head fracture and coronoid fracture. We describe a new variant of the terrible triad of the elbow consisting of fracture of the capitellum involving the full length of the trochlea and posterolateral dislocation of the elbow associated with coronoid fracture (type 1 Regan-Morrey). A 25-year-old girl was brought to the emergency ward with the history of having jumped from the third floor with an intention of committing suicide. She sustained multiple fractures, i.e, fracture ribs, bilateral intra-articular fracture of the lower end of the radius, left-side elbow injury, left subtrochanteric fracture femur and left zygomatic fracture with head injury. The elbow was stable after stabilization of the capitellum fracture through a collateral approach. Coronoid fragment was left alone, as it was a very small fragment.