Table 4.

Summary of study findings that reshaped the management of radial head fractures.

Method of treatment discussed	Authors	Population	Summary of key findings
Radial head resection	Hall et al. [24]	Case series: 42 patients evaluated for elbow or forearm problems after radial head resection.	7 patients (17%) were diagnosed with posterolateral rotational instability of the elbow.
Non-operative	Akesson et al. [20]	49 patients treated non-operatively for Mason type-IIa radial head fractures. 6 patients had delayed radial head excision for poor outcome.	40 of the 49 patients (82%) had no subjective complaints after non-operative treatment. Injured elbows had significantly lower ROM and higher degenerative changes compared to non-injured elbows but this was thought to be clinically insignificant by the authors.
	Herbertsson et al. [25]	Retrospective study: 100 patients treated non-operatively, with radial head resection, or with ORIF for Mason type-II or III radial head and neck fractures. Mean follow-up was 19 years.	77 of the 100 patients had no symptoms at follow-up. Mean ROM deficits were minor (2 degree flexion, 3 degree extension, and 3 degree supination deficits). 19 patients had primary radial head excision while 9 patients had a secondary procedure performed due to residual pain.
ORIF	Ring et al. [19]	Retrospective study: 56 patients treated with ORIF for intra-articular radial head fracture.	14 out of 15 patients with Mason Type-3 comminuted radial head fractures with at least 3 articular fragments had unsatisfactory results (based on failure of fixation or nonunion requiring radial head excision, a fair or poor result with the system of Broberg and Morrey, or recovery of < 100 degrees of forearm rotation).
RHA	Yan et al. [27]	RCT: 39 patients with Mason type-3 radial head fractures and associated terrible triad injuries of the elbow	RHA group had a significant shorter surgery duration, fewer post-surgical complications, and better clinical outcomes compared to the ORIF group.
	Chen et al. [26]	RCT: 45 patients with unstable, multi-fragmented fractures of the radial head treated with either ORIF or RHA	Better outcome scores and lower complication rates among the RHA group compared to the ORIF group.