A Prospective Study Evaluating Factors Affecting Functional Outcome in Patients with Floating Elbow Injury

Abstract

Background: Floating elbow injuries are complex injuries. Due to frequent association with severe soft tissue injuries and polytrauma, they have unpredictable functional outcome. This prospective study is aimed to evaluate the factors affecting functional outcome. Methods: Thirty patients with floating elbow injuries were treated at a level 1 trauma center from July 2018 to June 2019 with minimum follow-up of 9 months. The outcome was assessed by disability for arm shoulder and hand score (DASH) and mayo elbow performance score (MEPS). Results: The overall incidence was 16.09 per 1000, mostly caused by road traffic accidents and all cases were managed surgically. Age, gender, education, occupation, arm dominance, and mechanism of injury did not significantly affect the outcomes. Open fractures and patients requiring staged procedure were associated with poorer outcomes (p < 0.05); however, delay in surgery for more than 24 h significantly increased the rate of complications. There was no statistical difference in the proportion of patients who had nerve injury pre operatively and post operatively on the final outcome. Conclusion: Floating elbow injuries are relatively rare but nowadays the numbers are on the rise. Timely intervention with a multimodal approach and well-supervised rehabilitation can assure better final outcome.