Resultados del tratamiento a pacientes con tríada terrible del codo Results of treatment of patients suffering from terrible triad of the elbow

The dislocation of the elbow, associated to the coronoid process fracture and radial head fracture is known as “terrible triad of the elbow" because of the complexity of the correct treatment application and its discouraging results. A prospective study was carried out to collect the postoperative results obtained from four patients with acute traumatic instability of the elbow, who initially came to the emergency department of “Dr. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna” Teaching General Hospital, were treated there from January, 2012 to May, 2013, and had an average follow-up of eight months. The procedure consisted of repairing the coronoid, the external lateral ligament and the radial cupula, cupulectomy and placing the endo-medullar pin. The surgical technique was determined by the radiographic studies and findings during the procedure. The patients were three men and a woman who had five injured elbows and an average age of 34 years old. As a result of the treatment, flexion was normal between 130o - 135o in 4 elbows and limited in one at 110o; extension was limited at 8° to 21° in all the patients, and prone supination was limited between 5° y 22° in all them, too. The surgical interventions by means of fixation and repair of the stabilizers of the elbow