[Complications after surgical management of radial head fractures]

As surgical management of fractures of the head of the radius unfortunately does not always yield satisfactory results, we performed a detailed study of these complications with special regard to several criteria. Over a period of five years, 44 cases of fractures of the head of the radius received surgical treatment at the Graz Hospital for Accident Surgery. Correlating with the literature known to us we found a relatively high rate of complications (17 of 44 cases, nine of the 17 cases required reoperation). If, however, we consider cases with a loss of mobility of up to 30 degrees in bending and stretching and rotation of the forearm still as satisfactory, of our 44 patients who were operated on for fractures of the head of the radius 37 showed satisfactory results and only seven poor ones.