Habitual Patellar Dislocation-Management by Two in One Procedure, Short Term Results

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Pediatric orthopedics
• Sports medicine

Background:

• Habitual patellar dislocation is a rare condition with limited effective surgical treatments.
• Existing procedures for patellar dislocations often lack complete efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a "two-in-one" surgical technique for treating habitual patellar dislocation in children.
• To evaluate the efficacy and functional outcomes of this combined surgical approach.

Main Methods:

• A prospective review of ten children (aged 5-9 years) with habitual patellar dislocation.
• Surgical intervention involved graded lateral soft tissue release and patellar tendon transposition (Roux Goldthwait procedure).
• Clinical outcomes assessed using Kujala score, straight leg raise, knee range of motion, and visual analogue scale over 12 months.

Main Results:

• No recurrence of patellar dislocation was observed in any patient.
• The mean Kujala score significantly improved from 48 pre-operatively to 97.8 at 12-month follow-up.
• All patients achieved the ability to perform a straight leg raise with near-full knee range of motion.

Conclusions:

• Extensive proximal lateral release combined with the Roux Goldthwait procedure is effective for treating pediatric habitual patellar dislocation.
• Intra-operative assessment is crucial for determining the extent of lateral release.
• This surgical method is simple, cost-effective, reproducible, and yields excellent functional results.