Lateral compartment cartilage changes and lateral elbow pain.

The aim of our study is to document the arthroscopic findings in resistant lateral elbow pain. We have reviewed the findings in a consecutive series of 117 elbow arthroscopies performed on patients with lateral elbow pain resistant to conservative treatment. We found established degenerative changes involving articular cartilage in 68 patients (59%). In 60 of these 68 patients (88%) the degenerative changes were confined to the lateral compartment and contrasted with a normal appearance of the articular cartilage of the medial compartment. Primary lateral compartment arthritis is more common than previously thought, it mostly affects a young population and could easily be misdiagnosed as lateral epicondylitis.