[Surgical treatment of old dislocation of radial head in children]

Isolated dislocation of radial head in 8 children, aged 2 to 12 years, was reported. Prominence of the dislocated radial head at the cubital fossa was the sign in common, either in fresh case (1) or in old one (7). The elbow function was normal except short of less than 30 degrees of flexion in 2 cases. The 1 fresh dislocation was treated by manual reduction and cast immobilization; while the old ones were reduced operatively without fascial reconstruction of annular ligament, followed by immobilizing cast which, if necessary, should be windowed over the area of radial head to apply pressure to keep the not-well seated radial head into place. Follow-up of 7 patients for a period of 2 to 15 years, averaging 5 years, showed normal anatomy and normal function in 6 patients and failure (redislocation) in 1. The operative technic and the post-operative management are described in the paper.