[Ligamentous lesions of the knee joint (author's transl)]

In a 10 years period (1971 to 1980) 648 patients underwent 811 operations because of ligamentous lesions of the knee joint. 63.3% of them occurred due to sports activities. 41.2% of these patients were 15 to 30 years of age. The most satisfying functional results can be obtained by a primary suture of the injured ligaments within the first 3 days after the accident. In this way, a subsequent arthrosis may be prevented. Due to the fact that only 5.0% of our patients could be operated on until the third day after the injury, but 31.0% within 3 months, 70.7% of them already suffered from chondromalacia when the operation of the lesion was performed. In this case the plastic repair has to take into account the damage to the cartilage which happened meanwhile. The most predominant instability of the knee joint is situated anteromedially.