Extract
Hemophilic arthropathy most commonly affects the knee, with the elbow being
the second most frequently involved
joint1. The
recurrent intra-articular hemorrhages that cause this form of inflammatory
arthropathy are a feature of severe hemophilia in which <1% of the normal
clotting factor titers are present.Whereas total joint replacement is a well-documented treatment for
hemophilic hip and knee
arthropathy2-5,
there are very few reports of total elbow replacements in patients with
hemophilia. Possible reasons for this lack of published data include (1) the
predominant and successful medical management of most patients with
hemophilia, (2) less functional impairment of the elbow compared with the hip
and knee in hemophilic arthropathy, and (3) the more recent successful
evolution of total elbow arthroplasty compared with the more established hip
and knee arthroplasties. Our aim is to share our experience with total elbow
arthroplasty in patients with hemophilic arthropathy and to review the cases
reported in the literature.