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[Knee dislocation. Long-term results after operative treatment]
M Richter1, P Lobenhoffer, H Tscherne
1Unfallchirurgische Klinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover. drmrichter@online.de
Introduction:
Traumatic dislocation is the most severe ligamentous injury of the knee. The indications for operative and conservative treatment are still controversial.
Methods And Results:
From 1974 to 1994, 38 patients with documented knee dislocation were treated operatively in our department. Thirty-four of these patients were followed up for 3-16 years (mean: 8.6 years). In 29 cases of the follow-up group, reconstruction of both cruciate ligaments was performed. In the remaining cases the cruciate ligaments were left alone. At the time of follow-up, 90 % of the patients showed good knee stability, but 90 % had lack of motion as well. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis was mostly mild to moderate. Thirty-five percent of the patients achieved excellent to good results in the Lysholm Score.
Conclusions:
Positive prognostic factors were an age less than 40 years at the time of the accident, a low-energy trauma, e. g., a sports-related injury, early reconstruction of both cruciate ligaments, and initial postoperative functional treatment.