Surgical excellence at Santa Lucia: mechanical-functional reimplantation of a severely traumatized elbow

At the Casa di Salute Santa Lucia in San Giuseppe Vesuviano, a hospital facility of the private healthcare group NefroCenter, a surgical operation of very high complexity was performed on an amateur athlete. The athlete, a cyclist, had a very severe traumatic injury of the elbow, characterized by complete rupture of the four columns that make up the so-called “Ring ELBOW”. That is, the structures that stabilize the forearm on the arm: the medial muscle masses (epicondylar muscles and the associated collateral ligament); the anterior bony structures (radial head and coronoid); the medial muscle masses (associated ligaments and the posterior capsular and bony structures: olecranon), displaced in an irreducible way, even under anesthesia.

The operation required an extraordinary surgical approach, comparable to a true “mechanical and functional anatomical reimplantation” of the forearm onto the arm.
In other words, only the arteriovenous vascular system that supplies blood to, and therefore oxygenates, the muscles of the forearm and of the hand downstream, together with the nerves, which were nonetheless bruised and affected by the traumatic event, were intact. The bony joint structures and the capsulo-ligamentous and muscular supporting structures, on the other hand, were extremely compromised.

The operation, which lasted more than 4 hours, was performed using top-level technologies. An internal joint stabilizer and a latest-generation radial head prosthesis were used, with non-metallic, minimally invasive ligament fixation systems that allow joint stability to be restored immediately. In essence, the earliest possible rehabilitation. The application of these techniques, used in the most advanced international reference centers, including the Mayo Clinic (USA), confirms the high technological and professional standard of the High-Complexity Orthopedic Center of the NefroCenter Group, led by Professor Raffaele Russo, active at the Casa di Salute Santa Lucia in San Giuseppe Vesuviano and at the Clinica Villa dei Fiori in Mugnano.

The patient, previously evaluated in public hospital facilities, sought a second opinion and the possibility of admission at highly specialized centers for these injuries, which have historically also been strongly attractive to patients from other regions. These facilities referred the patient to Prof. Raffaele Russo, considered one of the leading experts in shoulder and elbow surgery.

Prof. Raffaele Russo, Extraordinary Professor of Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery “Vincenzo Tiberio” of Campobasso, has an outstanding curriculum: 19 years as chief of Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Ospedale dei Pellegrini in Napoli, directing the Emergency Department, and a former president of the Italian Society of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, he is recognized as one of the founding fathers of shoulder and elbow surgery in Italy, with international experience certified by the European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow as European excellence.

The author of four international patents, more than 100 indexed scientific publications and hundreds of scientific presentations at national and international level, with a high Scopus h-index and more than 20,000 surgical operations performed personally, Prof. Russo continues to lead a team of highly specialized trainees, making it possible to achieve a clinical and care outcome of absolute accuracy.

Clinical review by Prof. Raffaele Russo, Orthopedic Surgeon.
Last review: February 2, 2026.