SURGERY IN ACUTE PATELLAR DISLOCATION - EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF INJURY MECHANISM AND FAMILY OCCURRENCE ON THE OUTCOME OF TREATMENT

A retrospective study was made of 270 patients and 284 knees with acut e patellar dislocation treated operatively. The mean follow up time wa s 4.1 years. Medical history revealed 21.1% of cases with previous dis locations and 15.6% of cases with family occurrence of patellar disloc ation. The dislocation resulted from an athletic performance in 41.5% of cases. The sport events most often associated with patellar disloca tion were soccer, gymnastics, and ice hockey. All cases were treated w ith reefing of medial capsule. Release of lateral patellar retinacula was performed in 243 cases. Two cases were treated primarily with the Elmslie-Roux-Trillat procedure. The subjective result of operative tre atment was better and the redislocation rate was lower if the injury m echanism was traumatic rather than non-traumatic and if there was no h istory for family occurrence of patellar dislocation.