Plate or Arthroplasty for complex Mason Type-III Radial Head Fractures? Mid-to-long term results from a blinded outcome assessor study

This study provides evidence that 3- and 4-part Mason type III fractures are prone to plate osteosynthesis. In contrast, greater than 4-part fractures can more reliably be treated by replacement. This leads to a proposed increase in fragment numbers to four, where ORIF most likely leads to good clinical results. However, in patients with 4+ fragment patterns, ORIF did not show statistically significantly worse results concerning the collected clinical values. This study supports the use of the ORIF approach to save the radial head.