Basic Science and ElbowRadiocapitellar joint stability with bipolar versus monopolar radial head prostheses
Section snippets
Specimen preparation
The study used 12 fresh frozen elbows from deceased donors with no evidence of radiocapitellar joint pathology. The average of age of the donor at the time of death was 76 years (range, 61-93 years). Each specimen was thawed overnight at room temperature before preparation. All soft tissues, including the joint capsule, were carefully removed, and the radiocapitellar joint was completely separated. The distal humerus and proximal radius were resected from the upper extremity.
The specimens were
Results
The monopolar radial head and the native radial head both resisted subluxation (Figure 3). The force-displacement curves were generally characterized by a steep initial increment. As translation of radial head from the capitellum increased, the force resisting subluxation increased until a peak was reached. With the monopolar head, the curve demonstrated less stiffness compared with the native head. The bipolar head, however, demonstrated a mirror-image (opposite) pattern. The required force to
Discussion
Among the complications of radial head arthroplasty, dislocation of the prosthesis is serious and sometimes requires revision surgery. Brinkmanet et al4 reported 2 cases of revision surgery due to subluxation of the prosthesis among 11 patients who underwent bipolar radial head replacement. Gabrion et al5 reported 2 prosthesis dislocations in 10 patients treated with a bipolar radial head prosthesis. Another study of midterm results with bipolar prosthesis reported a patient who sustained
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