Trauma Case Rep. 2025 Nov 14;60:101265. doi: 10.1016/j.tcr.2025.101265. eCollection 2025 Dec.

We aim to describe this rare injury and evaluate the surgical treatment. Floating elbow is a relatively rare traumatic entity. It occurs following a high-velocity trauma and is part of a polytrauma. There is no consensus on its management which remains essentially surgical. They often have a favorable outcome. We report the case of a 20-year-old patient who presented following a road traffic accident with a floating elbow associated with an ipsilateral proximal humerus fracture. The treatment was surgical. An open reduction and internal fixation with a dual plating of the humerus and pinning of the forearm bones was carried out. At 10 months follow-up, the ASES score was 78. Rehabilitation was started early. The prognosis of this lesion is essentially functional.

PubMed:41333993 | PMC:PMC12666055 | DOI:10.1016/j.tcr.2025.101265