The natural history of a mistreated ipsilateral Galeazzi and Monteggia lesion : Report of a case 39 years post-injury


Published online: Aug 27 2008

George M. Kontakis, Dritan Pasku, Joseph Pagkalos, Pavlos G. Katonis

University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Abstract

Galeazzi injury combined with ipsilateral Monteggia lesion is extremely rare. A 45-year-old male patient with a mistreated Galeazzi lesion combined with an ipsilateral Monteggia fracture at the age of 6 is presented. Thirty-nine years post-injury his elbow was asymptomatic and stable and his distal radioulnar and radiocarpal joints were also asymptomatic. The strength of the limb was equal to the unaffected contralateral upper limb and he was able to work manually as a waiter for the last 20 years without any problem. The only obvious defect was a 30° lack of elbow flexion and a 10° lack of forearm pronation in comparison to the normal side.