RESEARCH ARTICLE
Long-Term Outcomes after Colton Type I and II Fractures of the Olecranon
Thord von Schewelov1, Fredrik Hertervig1, Per-Olof Josefsson1, Jack Besjakov1, Ralph Hasserius1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 13
First Page: 208
Last Page: 216
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-13-208
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001913010208
Article History:
Received Date: 09/06/2019Revision Received Date: 12/09/2019
Acceptance Date: 17/09/2019
Electronic publication date: 15/11/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
It is unclear if the outcomes differ in different subtypes of olecranon fractures.
Objective:
Evaluate the outcomes of different Colton types of olecranon fractures, and if outcomes differ in dominant and non-dominant arms and in men and women.
Methods:
We evaluated primary journals and radiographs in 40 men and 55 women with isolated olecranon fractures and classified fractures according to Colton. Mean 19 years after fracture event, we re-examined subjective, clinical and radiographic outcomes in the former patients, using the uninjured arms as controls.
Results:
89% of patients with Colton type I fractures reported at follow-up no subjective differences between the elbows, 84% with type II oblique/transverse fractures and 84% with type II comminuted fractures (p=0.91). The uninjured to former fractured arm differences in elbow range of motion and strength were no different in the 3 fracture types, the proportions of individuals with radiographic elbow degenerative changes were greater in type II than in type I factures (p<0.001), and there were no differences between the proportions of individuals with reduced joint space in the 3 groups (p=0.40). The outcomes were no different if the fractures had occurred in the dominant or non-dominant arms (p=0.43), or in men or women (p=0.43).
Conclusion:
There were no different outcomes after Colton type I, type II oblique/transverse or type II comminuted fractures, no different outcomes between fractures in dominant or non-dominant arms and no different outcomes in men and women.