Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Oct 4:42:100709.
doi: 10.1016/j.tcr.2022.100709. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Irreducible posterolateral elbow dislocation: A case report

B Diop  1 , M Maibe  2 , B Dembele  2 , A Y Ndoye  1 , M Daffe  2 , J C Sane  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Irreducible posterolateral elbow dislocation: A case report

B Diop et al. Trauma Case Rep. .

Abstract

Elbow dislocations are very common, particularly in the posterolateral variety. Closed reduction is usually easy. However, an irreducible elbow dislocation without associated fracture is rare. We report the case of a 21-year-old patient who presented with an isolated posterolateral irreducible elbow dislocation. Open reduction revealed the buttonhole radial head in the capsule and the complex ligaments. A significant protrusion of the radial head associated with a closed reduction failure is highly suspicious of an irreducible dislocation.

Keywords: Buttonhole; Dislocation; Elbow; Irreducible.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Deformity of the left elbow and radial head protrusion (yellow arrow).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Anteroposterior (A) and lateral (B) radiographs showing a posterolateral dislocation of the elbow without fracture.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Intraoperative image showing the radial head herniation “buttonhole aspect” (yellow arrow) through the annular ligament (white arrow) and joint capsule (blue arrow). The collateral ligaments not being visible on this image is located lower.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Anteroposterior (A) and lateral (B) post-reduction radiographs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Reichert I.L.H., Ganeshamoorthy S., Aggarwal S., Arya A., Sinha J. Dislocations of the elbow an instructional review. J. Clin. Orthop. Trauma. Oct 2021;21 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neviaser J.S., Wickstrom J.K. Dislocation of the elbow: a retrospective study of 115 patients. South Med. J. 1977;70(2):172–173. 1 févr. - PubMed
    1. Devadoss A. Irreducible posterior dislocation of the elbow. Br. Med. J. 1967;3(5566):659. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atkinson C.T., Pappas N.D., Lee D.H. Irreducible posterolateral elbow dislocation. Am. J. Orthop. 2014;43:E34–E36. - PubMed
    1. Pawlowski R.F., Palumbo F.C., Callahan J.J. Irreducible posterolateral elbow dislocation: report of a rare case. J. Trauma Acute Care Surg. 1970;10(3):260–266. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources