Abstract
Medial and lateral elbow pain are often due to degenerative tendinosis and less commonly
due to trauma. The involved structures include the flexor-pronator tendon origin in
medial-sided pain and the extensor tendon origin in lateral-sided pain. Multimodality
imaging is often obtained to verify the clinically suspected diagnosis, evaluate the
extent of injury, and guide treatment decisions. Image-guided procedures can provide
symptom relief to support physical therapy and also induce tendon healing. Surgical
debridement and repair are typically performed in refractory cases, resulting in good
to excellent outcomes in most cases. In this article, we review and illustrate pertinent
anatomical structures of the distal humerus, emphasizing the structure and contributions
of the flexor-pronator and extensor tendon origins in acute and chronic tendon abnormalities.
We also discuss approaches to image-guided treatment and surgical management of medial
and lateral epicondylitis.
Keywords
elbow - magnetic resonance imaging - ultrasonography - flexor-pronator tendon - common
extensor tendon
