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enter image description hereApparently the anterolateral aspect of the radius head is fractured. I can not identify where this is.

After asking other people I believe it could be the hairline white line near the neck of the radius bone although it doesn’t match the description or the parameters of what can be identified from X-Ray.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10nXEmYd9GtVBrZzDsk4UKl7DH9XvMGSY

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    Is this an x-ray of your arm or of someone you know, or is it a problem given to you in a class?
    – Carey Gregory
    Sep 9, 2022 at 23:43
  • My right arm, I’m a high school student.
    – Kyle
    Sep 10, 2022 at 21:35
  • Okay, I just asked because if it was a class problem the post needed the homework tag.
    – Carey Gregory
    Sep 10, 2022 at 22:12

1 Answer 1

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The Fracture is not an obvious one; there are occult fractures. The presence of a joint effusion, while not always associated with a fracture, is usually associated with a fracture when the history is consistent with an acute injury (possible fracture).

The radial head isn't grossly abnormal. There's a tiny suggestion of a possible fracture in the angularity of the radial neck. There 'should' be a bit of a smoother transition from the head to the radial shaft. However, it might not be called a fracture but for the presence of an effusion (in this case blood) in the joint capsule.

There are positive fat pad signs on the radiograph above.

If you look closely at the distal humerus, you'll see a shadow/lucency that shouldn't be there:

enter image description here

If you use your imagination, it looks like the sail of a sailboat traveling (?) westward. That's the sail sign.

If you look at the posterior humerus, you'll see a lucency all along the joint:

enter image description here

That's never present without an effusion. That's the posterior fat pad sign.

Without seeing more than one view, it's difficult to say where exactly the fracture is in the joint, but it's clear (if there's a history of recent trauma) that there's a fracture somewhere in the joint because of the two fat pad signs.

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  • Thank you! I have left a Publicly accessible GDrive link with 7 total X Ray images.
    – Kyle
    Sep 16, 2022 at 3:10

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