Outcomes of pediatric elbow dislocations: A retrospective study

Introduction: elbow dislocations are rarely seen in children. the treatment and outcomes remains controversial. materials and methods: we reported retrospectively the clinical and functional results elbow dislocations in children treated in sahloul university hospital. both isolated dislocations and associated with others injuries were evaluated separately. results: respecting the inclusion criteria,48 children were selected. no bilateral injuries were found. pure dislocations were observed in 19 cases out of which according to the robert's criteria,13 children (68%) had an excellent,three (15%) a good,two (10%) a fair,and one (7%) a poor outcome. from the 29 elbow dislocations associated with other injuries,3 (10%) had an excellent,4(13%) a good,8 (27%) a fair and 14 (50%) a poor result. reviewing the functional results,better range of motion was found in elbow with pure dislocation compared to elbow with associated injuries. conclusion: prolonged follow ups,and effective rehabilitation programs are required in order to expect good outcomes. © 2016,pakistan pediatric journal. all rights reserved.