The role of prosthetic replacement in the management of comminuted radial head fractures

Abstract A displaced and badly comminuted fracture of the radial head is part of a complex instability injury of 3 joints namely elbow, radio-ulnar and wrist joints. If it is associated with Mason type IV and Essex Lopresti injury to forearm, simple excision of the radial head may lead to instability of the elbow joint and painfully restricted movements of the wrist. Management should be aimed at achieving the normal anatomy so that the function of elbow, radio-ulnar and wrist joints will be restored to a satisfactory level. We report the medium term result of a patient who had prosthetic replacement of radial head. Our patient in this case report was informed, that the details of the management would be submitted for publication.