[Incorrectly healed Monteggia lesion in childhood and adolescence]

Although the so-called Monteggia-injury, defined as an isolated fracture of the Ulna accompanying a sub- or complete dislocation of the radial head - is already known more than one hundred years - this injury is anyway often assessed completely wrong! Not the overlooked ulna fracture there is the problem but the not realized dislocation of the radial head. The prognosis of such an overlooked Monteggia-lesion is depending of different factors: age of the patient, duration of the dislocation, the amount of the morphological alteration in the elbow joint. The presented article describes the essential criteria with which is necessary for a correct assessment. Due to these criteria the individual therapies are described. This in relation to the existing time of the dislocation of the radial head. The results depend on the surgeon's experience, the accuracy of the planning and the technique chosen. An intensive postoperative physiotherapy is mandatory, frequently with initial application of CPM (continuous passive motion). Loss of correction and residual malalignments are well known and not rare. They occur mostly in instances of insufficient stability and centralization of the radial head, respectively. There are no evident numbers but this is confirmed by clinical experience.