[Surgical treatment of the ruptured achilles tendon.]

The article deals with the issues of the rupture of Achilles tendon with a focus on its surgical treatment. On the group of 42 patients operated on between 1994 and 1999 with the average follow-up of 3 years and 9 months the authors analyze the epidemiology of this injury, i. e. its incidence by sex, age, causes etc. They also examine the influence of the presence of pretrauma complaints and the associated diseases. The results reflect both the subjective condition and the objective finding. Satisfaction of patients is expressed by a scale of seven subgroups. Achieved were 64,2 points out of the maximum number of 85. Clinical examination is focused mainly on the assessment of the standing on the toes or plan-tiflexion,Thompson test, range of motion and the presence of potential postoperative muscular hypotrophy. In the conclusion the authors discuss the influence of immobilization of the knee joint after the surgery on the strength of the regenerated tendon and mainly on the healing of the tendon in elongation which corresponds with the above mentioned clinical tests. Reduced plantiflexion was recorded in 26,2 % and the positive Thompson test in 21,4 % patients treated after the surgery by a foot-knee plaster fixation applied for 6 weeks. Key words: rupture of Achilles tendon, surgical treatment, results.