Clinical efficacy of anterior radius head fracture combined with lateral ligament complex injury / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the operation efficacy of anterior radius head fracture combined with lateral ligament complex injury.Methods:The patients with radial head fracture admitted from September 2017 to August 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, 51 males and 54 females, average age of 38.84±13.63 years (range of 16-70 years). Based on the radial head fractures of Mason classification of type II, the cases involving the anterior radius head fracture were divided into three subtypes according to the number of fracture blocks and the type of displacement type A (53 cases) one part of the anterior radius head collapse fracture; type B (50 cases) two or more parts of the anterior radial head collapse fracture; type C (2 cases) anterior radius head dissociated and displaced fracture. All fractures were treated with open reduction and internal fixation. Among them, the lateral ligament complex of type B were elongated due to the injury but the continuity existed. Therefore, the lateral ligament complex in 21 cases were not repaired in the early period (unrepaired group); in recent years, 29 cases repaired the lateral ligament complex (repair group). The postoperative efficacy was evaluated by elbow range of motion, table-top relocation test, Mayo score, and Broberg Morrey score. the patients were evaluated at final follow-up, except table-top relocation test was recorded according to the actual completion time.Results:All operations were successfully completed. The mean follow-up was 14.08±1.52 months (range of 12-18 months). Type A the flexion and extension range was 115.70°±6.35°; the completion time of the table-top relocation test was 75.68±11.90 days; the Mayo score was 93.72±2.40 point, and the Broberg Morrey score was 92.89±2.28 point. Type B lateral ligament repair group (repaired group) 29 cases and unrepaired lateral ligament group (unrepaired group) 21 cases. The flexion and extension range of elbow in repaired group was 112.1°±4.4°, which was better than that in unrepaired group 105.8°±3.7° ( t=5.31, P<0.001). The completion time of table-top relocation test was 77.72±6.51 days in repaired group and 104.29±18.45 days in unrepaired group ( t=6.32, P<0.001). The Mayo score of the repaired group was 90.21±5.88 points and that of the unrepaired group was 87.14±5.26 points ( t=1.90, P=0.063), and there was no significant difference between the two groups. Broberg Morrey score of 90.93±6.43 points in the repaired group was better than 86.95±6.37 points in the unrepaired group ( t=2.17, P=0.035). Type C for 2 patients, the flexion and extension range of elbow were 107°and 106°; the completion time of table-top relocation test were 82 days and 98 days; the Mayo scores were 91 point and 87 point; Broberg Morrey scores were 93 point and 85 point. There was a patient developed myositis ossificans in unrepair group of tybe B. Conclusion:The elbow joint is stable when one part of the anterior radius head collapse fracture; there is a degree of instability in the elbow when two or more parts of the anterior radial head collapse fractures suggest to repair the lateral ligament complex. The elbow joint is extremely unstable when anterior radius head dissociated and displaced fractures, the lateral ligament complex should be repaired in time.