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  • Elbow instability following lateral collateral ligament complex avulsion fracture and joint interposition: an uncommon presentation

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Unusual presentation of more common disease/injury
CASE REPORT
Elbow instability following lateral collateral ligament complex avulsion fracture and joint interposition: an uncommon presentation
  1. Karuppaiah Karthik1,
  2. Vidhya Kasilingam1,
  3. Kerementi Othieno-P’otonya2
  1. 1Department of Orthopaedics, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  2. 2King’s College London School of Medical Education, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Mr. Karuppaiah Karthik, karthi97{at}gmail.com

Summary

The lateral collateral ligament (LCL) complex of the elbow is a capsuloligamentous structure, critical for elbow stability. Though isolated ligamentous injuries have been reported in literature, there are no studies reporting avulsion fractures of the lateral ligamentous complex of the elbow with joint incarceration in a child. An 11-year-old boy presented to the emergency department after a fall from height, with pain and swelling to the lateral side of his left elbow. Radiographs established a fracture of the lateral condyle and CT imaging confirmed an avulsion of the lateral ligamentous complex, with fragments in the inferior radiocapitellar joint. Examination under anaesthesia revealed an unstable elbow with restricted extension, and the child underwent joint debridement and open reduction internal fixation of LCL complex with cannulated screws. At the final follow-up at 15 months, the child regained preinjury level of function.

  • elbow fracture
  • lateral collateral ligament complex avulsion fracture
  • posterolateral rotatory instability
  • elbow instability
  • joint interposition

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2018-225551

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors KK is a Consultant Upper Limb Orthopaedic Surgeon at King’s College Hospital and the corresponding author of this case report. He revised the report and completed the surgery and follow-up for the mentioned patient. VK is a Foundation Year 1 Doctor at King’s College Hospital who wrote the draft under the guidance of KK. KO-P is a final year medical student from King’s College London and helped KK and VK in writing up the report.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.