Fang Christian, Yan Chun-Hoi, Yee Dennis, Lau Tak-Wing, Wong Tak-Man, Leung Frankie
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, University of Hong Kong Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.
Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Innovative Technology in Orthopaedic Trauma, University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
JBJS Case Connect. 2017 Jan-Mar;7(1):e17. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.CC.16.00150.
We describe 2 patients who sustained a periprosthetic humeral fracture with a loosened long-stemmed Coonrad-Morrey total elbow prosthesis. As noted in the literature, the success rate for a major revision with use of strut grafts is around 70%; therefore, both cases were managed without revision of the prosthesis. A submuscular locking plate was placed following typical fracture fixation principles. Screws that interfered with the humeral stem and the distal flange stabilized both the distal fragment and the humeral stem.
At 2 years postoperatively, both fractures had healed, with increased endosteal bone stock. In each case, the prosthesis was successfully salvaged, and radiographic reconstitution of the implant-bone interface was noted after 2 years.