Outcomes of surgical treatment for osteochondritis dissecans of the elbow: evaluation by lesion location.

BACKGROUND

For treatment of advanced elbow osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), we have used surgical treatment. Although favorable treatment outcomes have been reported for centrally located OCD, treatment outcomes are generally questionable and the choice of surgical method is controversial for laterally located OCD. Our purpose was to evaluate the treatment outcomes based on lesion location.

METHODS

The patients were 30 young (mean age, 14 years) male athletes who underwent surgical treatment of elbow OCD and were monitored for more than 1 year. Osteochondral autografts harvested from the knee were transplanted to centralized (13 patients) or lateral localized (9 patients) OCD lesions. For lateral widespread (8 patients) OCD lesions, a detached osteochondral fragment was fixed using small osteochondral plugs. When the remaining cartilage defect was large after fragment fixation, a large-sized osteochondral plug was transplanted to the defect. Treatment outcomes were evaluated by the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score, elbow range of motion (ROM), and radiographic findings.

RESULTS

The Japanese Orthopaedic Association score significantly improved in patients with centralized, lateral localized, and lateral widespread types of OCD. ROM significantly improved in patients with centralized and lateral localized, and they returned to playing sports within 6 months. However, patients with lateral widespread OCD exhibited no significant ROM improvement, and returning to sports was difficult for 3 patients because of poor osseous integration of the fixed osteochondral fragment.

CONCLUSIONS

Osteochondral autograft transplantation provided favorable outcomes for centralized and lateral localized elbow OCD lesions. However, for lateral widespread OCD lesions, reconstruction of the entire capitellar lesion area may be necessary.