Elbow Replacement Surgery

Types of Elbow Replacement

Mayo Clinic's orthopedic surgeons have expertise in all types of elbow prostheses and elbow replacement surgeries and perform a large number of these surgeries annually. They specialize in minimally invasive, joint-preserving elbow replacement surgeries for people under age 60 with severe arthritis. Typically, doctors will exhaust all nonsurgical treatment alternatives before recommending elbow joint replacement.

Surgical options available to you at Mayo Clinic include the following procedures:

Alternatives to total elbow joint replacement surgery

Synovectomy. This treatment option, for people with rheumatoid arthritis, involves removing the swollen (inflamed) synovial tissue that is causing pain around the elbow joint. At Mayo Clinic, this procedure is typically done using arthroscopy, a minimally invasive approach.

Debridement. This surgery for osteoarthritis entails removing debris on and around the elbow joint, including bone spurs (osteophytes) and loose pieces of bone or cartilage. Surgeons at Mayo Clinic typically perform this procedure through small incisions at the elbow joint using arthroscopy.

Osteocapsular arthroplasty. The procedure involves synovectomy and a more thorough form of debridement that removes bone spurs, loose bone and cartilage, and recontours bones that have become deformed or deteriorated due to arthritis. The procedure was developed by Mayo Clinic surgeons and is not widely available outside Mayo Clinic.

Interposition arthroplasty. This surgery involves resurfacing the elbow joint, which reduces joint pain by preventing bones from rubbing together. It is performed on people who are not candidates for osteocapsular arthroplasty or joint replacement.

Partial joint (radial head) replacement. Partial replacement entails resurfacing the radial head (where the radius and humerus bones meet) and sometimes the capitellum bone joint in people with fractures from injuries. Mayo Clinic doctors developed the prosthetic replacement head for this procedure and special surgical instruments which permit replacement with a prosthesis of the same size and shape as your joint.

Total elbow replacement surgery

Open surgery. The surgeon makes an incision at the elbow to remove the entire joint and replaces it with an artificial (prosthetic) joint, fitted to the size of the individual and cemented in place.