The Nonarticular Area of the Radial Heador the So-Called Safe Zone for the Application of Internal Fixation Deviceshas Been Defined in Various Ways. Smith and Hotchkiss Defined It Based on Lines Bisecting the Radial Head Made in Full Supination, Full Pronation, and Neutral. Implants Can Be Placed As Far As Halfway Between the Middle and Posterior Lines and a Few Millimeters Beyond Halfway Between the Middle and Anterior Lines. Caputo and Colleagues Recommended Using the Radial Styloid and Lister Tubercle As Intraoperative Guides to This Safe Zone, but This Describes a Slightly Different Zone.

(From KingGJW, BeingessnerD, PollockJW. Elbow dislocations and terrible triad injuries. In: TornettaP III, RicciWM, OstrumRF, et al., eds. Rockwood and Green’s Fractures in Adults. Vol 1. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2020:1414–1468.)