The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2009;91:1414-1418.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.G.00329
© 2009 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
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 Shoulder/Elbow Test 27: Summer 2009 (publication date August 14, 2009; expi...
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Total Elbow Arthroplasty in Patients Forty Years of Age or Less

Andrea Celli, MD1 and Bernard F. Morrey, MD2

1 Via 4, Pilastri 3, Carpi (Modena) 41012, Italy
2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street S.W., Rochester, MN 55905

Investigation performed at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Disclosure: The authors did not receive any outside funding or grants in support of their research for or preparation of this work. One or more of the authors, or a member of his or her immediate family, received, in any one year, payments or other benefits in excess of $10,000 or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity (Zimmer). No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors, or a member of their immediate families, are affiliated or associated.

Background: It is generally accepted that prosthetic elbow replacement should be avoided in young patients because of an anticipated high rate of early failure. The purpose of this paper was to define the success, prosthetic survival rate, and problems encountered in patients who were treated with a semiconstrained total elbow arthroplasty when they were forty years of age or less.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 758 patients who had undergone primary arthroplasty with the Coonrad-Morrey total elbow prosthesis for any reason between 1982 and 2003. We identified fifty-five total elbow arthroplasties that had been performed in forty-nine patients (thirty-eight women and eleven men) who were forty years of age or less (mean, thirty-three years) at the time of the operation and that had been followed for a minimum of five years. Six patients had a bilateral procedure. The indication for the arthroplasty was inflammatory arthritis in thirty patients and posttraumatic arthritis in nineteen. Patients with hemophilia or a neoplasm were excluded. The medical record data were used to calculate the preoperative and postoperative Mayo Elbow Performance Score.

Results: The mean duration of follow-up was ninety-one months. During this period, twelve (22%) of the elbows had undergone a subsequent surgical procedure: four because of loosening, three because of triceps weakness, three because of wear, and two because of deep infection. On the basis of the Mayo Elbow Performance Score at the last review, thirty-six results (65%) were considered to be excellent; fifteen (27%), good; three (5%), fair; and one (2%), poor.

Conclusions: Semiconstrained total elbow arthroplasty in young patients was associated with a 22% revision rate at a mean of ninety-one months, and the rate of revision was significantly higher for patients with posttraumatic arthritis. Despite this revision rate, fifty-one elbows (93%) had a good or excellent Mayo Elbow Performance Score.

Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


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