Objective:
The socio-demographic features, treatment methods, and clinical outcomes of our cases established to have patellar fractures due to trauma were assessed in this study.
Materials and Methods:
Twenty-three cases who were diagnosed with closed patellar bone fractures between January 2008 and June 2010 were retrospectively evaluated. The fractures were classified with respect to anteroposterior and lateral radiographies of the cases at the time of admittance to the emergency department. The scoring system developed by Böstman et al. was used in assessing clinical outcomes.
Results:
Motor vehicle accident was the most common injury mechanism of patellar fracture in 16 cases (69.5%). While 21 (91.3%) of the fractures were type B1 (nondisplaced, unfragmented) fractures, 2 (8.7%) were type B2 (displaced, multiple fragmented) fractures. Of the type B1 fractures, 9 were distal pole, 8 were transverse, and 4 were longitudinal fractures. While 21 of the cases were treated surgically, 2 were conservatively treated. Among the surgically treated cases, 7 were managed by osteosynthesis in combination with either a screw and kirschner wire, 6 by osteosynthesis using modified anterior tension band, 5 by a combination of Kirschner and modified anterior tension band, and 3 by partial patellectomy. Eight cases gave perfect results (34.8%), with 10 cases giving good results (43.5%), and 5 cases giving poor results (21.7%).
Conclusion:
Although patellar fractures are rarely encountered, they represent an important issue in terms of their clinical outcomes.
Keywords: Clinical outcomes, demographical characteristics, patellar fracture, emergency department