Ossification centers of the elbow

Last revised by Francis Deng on 25 Nov 2023

There are six ossification centers of the elbow that appear and develop in a relatively reproducible fashion, and are key to assessment of the pediatric elbow radiograph. Timing of their appearance varies in the literature but an approximation is given below. A useful mnemonic to remember the order of development is CRITOL or CRITOE (see video below).

Video

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