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Review
. 2023 Jan 26:7:24715492231152735.
doi: 10.1177/24715492231152735. eCollection 2023.

Radiocapitellar Arthroplasty: Systematic Review

David Momtaz  1 , Farhan Ahmad  2 , Tucker Cushing  3 , Rishi Gonuguntla  1 , Abdullah Ghali  3 , Mohamad Jabin  4 , John Miggins  3 , Youssef Khalafallah  3 , Scott Mitchell  3
Affiliations
Review

Radiocapitellar Arthroplasty: Systematic Review

David Momtaz et al. J Shoulder Elb Arthroplast. .

Abstract

Introduction: Primary elbow osteoarthritis affects approximately 2% of the population, and has been treated with arthroplasty. However, total elbow arthroplasty (TEA) implants currently have severe weight limitations and issues with longevity. In patients with unicompartmental arthritis, unicompartmental arthroplasty may be used instead of TEA. We describe the use of Uni-Elbow Radio-Capitellum and Lateral Resurfacing Elbow for radiocapitellar arthroplasty (RCA) in this article.

Methods: Reviewers independently searched databases for keywords, such as radiocapitellar arthroplasty, RCA, uni-elbow radiocapitellum, UNI-E, and lateral resurfacing elbow, LRE. The measured outcomes of interest were the change in motion arc and patient-reported outcome scores. Studies that were not of appropriate quality determined by the Cochrane risk of bias summary tool and review studies were excluded.

Results: RCA resulted in a postoperative 38.3° ± 28.5° increase in elbow flexion-extension (P < .001), and 35.2° ± 28.6° increase in elbow pronation-supination (P < .001). Mayo Elbow Performance Score was significantly increased by 44.8 ± 12.6. DASH Score saw a significant reduction by 45.0 ± 14.6 points (P < .001), while the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Score increased by 47.0 ± 10.6 points (P < .001). Of the 105 adult patients 16.2% experienced complications such as minor stiffness, ulnar neuropathy, component loosening, or radial head UNI-E stem failure. Reported complications were higher in the UNI-E group than in the LRE group.

Conclusion: RCA has shown promise as an option to treat radiocapitellar arthritis, particularly when excising the radial head causes lateral column instability.

Keywords: arthroplasty; elbow; radiocapitellar arthroplasty.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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