Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction in Traumatic Patellar Dislocation without Patellar Fixation.

Acute traumatic patellar dislocation is a common injury, and spontaneous reduction may occur at the time of injury or may be reduced at the field of the accident by someone. It may be associated with osteochondral fractures and rupture of medial patellar stabilizers leading to recurrent patellar instability. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the outcomes of medial patellofemoral (PF) ligament (MPFL) reconstruction in recurrent traumatic patellar dislocation. Forty-five patients presented with PF instability as a result of traumatic rupture MPFL with normal patellar tracking underwent MPFL reconstruction without patellar fixation hardware through two parallel transpatellar tunnels and one screw in femoral tunnel. All patients were evaluated clinically preoperatively and at a minimum follow-up of 24 months, and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Kujala scores were used to assess the clinical results. All patients were available for evaluation at a minimum of 24 months (up to 36 months). The mean age of these patients at the time of surgery was 22.82 years (range: 18-34 years). All patients gave history of trauma of their knees. Mean IKDC scale showed significant improvement as it rose from 47.17 preoperatively to 77.94 postoperatively, and mean Kujala score rose from 53.88 preoperatively to 86.24 postoperatively (p < 0.001). No recurrence of dislocation was recorded. Only three patients had mild atrophy of thigh and one patient had some difficulty in jumping. Reconstruction of MPFL by this method provides good clinical result in the treatment of PF instability by using autologous graft (semitendinosus and gracilis). Less hardware were used with less complications.

Anatomic Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament of the Knee With or Without Reconstruction of the Anterolateral Ligament: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Rotational instability of the knee remains an issue after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Hypothesis/Purpose: The purpose was to evaluate the subjective and objective outcomes of combined reconstruction of the ACL and anterolateral ligament (ALL) of the knee. The hypothesis was that favorable outcomes can be achieved with this surgical procedure compared with isolated anatomic reconstruction of the ACL. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 2. METHODS: One hundred ten patients with a unilateral ACL injury and high-grade pivot shift were randomly assigned to undergo either combined ACL and ALL reconstruction (group A) or isolated ACL reconstruction (group B). Preoperative and postoperative evaluations of the patients were conducted by obtaining history details, recording physical examination findings, measuring knee laxity using the KT-1000 arthrometer, and using validated outcome scores for the knee. P < .05 was considered as the cut-off level of statistical significance. The Fisher exact and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess statistical significance. RESULTS: At a mean follow-up of 27 months, 53 and 50 patients in groups A and B, respectively, were available for analysis. No statistically different outcomes were found between the 2 groups except for the KT-1000 arthrometer values. The median KT-1000 arthrometer result for combined ACL and ALL reconstruction was 1.3 mm, while the median result for isolated ACL reconstruction was 1.8 mm ( P < .001). None of the patients (n = 0; 0.0%) who underwent combined ACL and ALL reconstruction had anterior translation of greater than 5 mm at maximum pulling strength compared with their normal knees at final follow-up. On the other hand, 3 (6.0%) patients who underwent isolated ACL reconstruction had anterior translation of more than 5 mm. No serious complications were found in both groups. CONCLUSION: Combined ACL and ALL reconstruction was found to be effective in improving subjective and objective outcomes. Nevertheless, these findings were not significantly superior to isolated ACL reconstruction except for the instrumented knee laxity testing results. This might indicate that ALL reconstruction should not be performed routinely for patients undergoing ACL reconstruction.