Kaleem Ullah, Ejaz Ali Chaudhry, Saad Ilyas, Ashfaq Ahmed, Nida Shahid, Muhammad Latif, Rizwan Akram, Naeem Ahmed, Amer Aziz.
Functional outcome after surgical release of patients presented with post-traumatic elbow stiffness.
Pak J Surg Jan ;36(1):53-8.

Introduction: Trauma to the elbow is an ordinary source of joint stiffness that might require surgical release. Release of the stiff elbow can be done by open or arthroscopic approach. Th ere is no high-level evidence for the best surgical treatment modality for post-traumatic elbow stiffness. Objective: Objective of this study is to assess the percentage improvement in range of motion aft er surgical release for management of patients of post-traumatic stiff elbows. Material and Methods: This Quasi experimental study was done at Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore from January 2018 to December 2018. Total 95-patients fulfilling the selection criteria were included in this study from Orthopedic Ward of Department of Orthopedic and Spine Surgery, Ghurki Trust Hospital, Lahore. An informed consent was obtained. Demographic profi le was obtained. Th en ROM at baseline was noted. Th en all patients underwent surgical release under general anesthesia by a single surgical team. Bone resection procedure was used to release the stiffness. Patients were followed-up in OPD aft er 4-weeks, 12-weeks and then 24-weeks. Th en aft er 24-weeks, ROM was noted and percentage improvement was calculated. Results: In this study percentage improvement in ROM after surgical release for management of patients of post-traumatic stiff elbows was 59.83% +- 8.39. Minimum and maximum percentage of improvement in ROM was 43% and 74.14% respectively. However age, gender, duration of disease and body mass index of patients was not significantly associated with percentage improvement in ROM after surgical release. Conclusion: In this study patients undergoing surgical treatment of post traumatic stiffness of the elbow had good percentage improvement in ROM. This shows the effectiveness of surgical release in post-traumatic stiff elbows. However age, gender, duration of disease and body mass index did not establish any significant changes in the prognosis regarding release of the elbow stiffness.

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