PATELLA cubiti is a condition of the elbow wherein a patella-like bone lies proximal to the olecranon process within the investments of the triceps tendon. A review of the literature reveals less than 25 cases reported to date. The condition was first described by anatomists in 1776, then by Virchow in 1864, by Tillesson in 1874 and by Pfitzner in 1892, who named this bone "sesamum cubiti."
The first clinical report is credited to Cotton,1 who in 1900 reported 2 cases in a paper entitled "Separation of the Epiphysis of the Olecranon." In 1902 Kienboch2 reported a single case and named the condition "patella cubiti." In a subsequent article with Desenfans in 1937 in Presse Medicale he reported 3 cases and offered a new name, "os epiphysaire del olecranon."3 Nevertheless, the term "patella cubiti" has remained.
Patella cubiti occurs most commonly in males, and, though usually unilateral,