Distraction Arthroplasty of Elbow using Ilizarov

Stiff elbow or ankylosis of the elbow joints due to various reasons is a challenging problem in orthopaedics and traditional surgeries do not offer satisfactory outcome. We have devised this technique and created a no. of cases with good to excellent results.

Ankylosis is a stiffness of a joint, the result of injury or disease. The rigidity may be complete or partial and may be due to inflammation of the tendinous or muscular structures outside the joint or of the tissues of the joint itself. When the structures outside the joint are affected, the term "false" ankylosis has been used in contradistinction to "true" ankylosis, in which the disease is within the joint. When inflammation has caused the joint-ends of the bones to be fused together the ankylosis is termed osseous or complete. Excision of a completely ankylosed shoulder or elbow may restore free mobility and usefulness to the limb. "Ankylosis" is also used as an anatomical term, bones being said to ankylose (or anchylose) when, from being originally distinct, they coalesce, or become so joined together that no motion can take place between them

• Bony ankylosis-union of the bones of a joint by proliferation of bone cells, resulting in complete immobility.
• Extracapsular ankylosis, is that caused by rigidity of surrounding parts.
• false ankylosis, fibrous ankylosis is reduced joint mobility due to proliferation of fibrous tissue.
• Inherited multiple ankylosis-calves are affected at birth and cause fetal dystocia. The legs are bent and fixed in flexion, and there is some deformity of the spine. In one breed of cattle there is a combination of ankylosis and cleft palate.
• Intracapsular ankylosis is that caused by rigidity of structures within the joint.
• Spontaneous ankylosis occurs in the intertarsal and tarsometatarsal joints of horses. Called also bone spavin.
• Spurious ankylosis-extracapsular ankylosis.
• Stapedial ankylosis-fixation of the footplate of the stapes in otosclerosis, causing a conductive hearing loss.
• Surgical ankylosis-performed to immobilize a painful joint or to correct excessive mobility, e.g. carpal ankylosis carried out on large birds as a deflighting procedure.
• True ankylosis-is bony ankylosis