A primarily overlooked and incorrectly treated Essex-Lopresti injury: what can this lead to?
INTRODUCTION: What result can one expect in treating an Essex-Lopresti lesion–a rare complex combination injury of the forearm consisting of a radial head fracture and a rupture of the interosseous membrane–which failed to be identified at first? MATERIALS AND METHODS: We report on a 45-year-old poly traumatized patient in which a primary Essex-Lopresti injury was overlooked following a dislocated radial head fracture. A radial head resection followed by an ulna-shortening osteotomy was performed with disastrous consequences at another clinic. As a result of persistent instability in the distal radioulnar joint, we implanted a mono-polar radial head prosthesis, which was subsequently changed as a result of a loosening of the prosthesis and persistent complex instability and pain in the area of the entire forearm, while an ulna osteotomy had to be carried out to correct this. This prosthesis also loosened, which destroyed the capitulum humeri. RESULTS: It was only after a specially de
