Arthroscopically Assisted, Minimally Invasive Percutaneous Fixation of a Patellar Fracture

Operative fixation of a patellar fracture can be accomplished through a variety of techniques. However, drawbacks have been associated with many of these techniques, including painful hardware, poor skin healing due to bruising and swelling, inadequate cartilage reduction, and eventual post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Throughout the orthopaedic field, minimally invasive approaches have become popular. We describe an arthroscopically assisted method for ensuring fracture reduction intraoperatively and addressing associated defects while the patella is stabilized using a minimally invasive percutaneous fixation technique with screws and a tension band construct.