A comparative study on the effect of radial head replacement and radial head resection

Objective To compare the clinical outcomes between radial head replacement and radial head resection for patients with radial head fractures.Methods 26 radial head fracture patients with type Ⅱ and Ⅲ according to Mason classification were treated.14 cases were treated with radial head replacement,12 cases were treated with radial head resection.Results All the 26 patients were followed up for 16.5 months in average,the excellent and good rate was 71.4％ of the radial head replacement group,while the excellent and good rate was 50.0％ of the radial head resection group in elbow joint score.The difference was statistically signifcant between the two groups ( x2 =4.98,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion Radial head replacement could achieve better stability of elbow joint than radial head resection. Key words: Radius fractures; Radial head replacement; Radial head resection