Neglected rupture of the patellar tendon

Neglected rupture of the patellar tendon is a rare but well recognised comp lication of knee trauma. We present the case of a 43-year-old man who susta ined a complete rupture of the patellar tendon of his left knee following a fall. Clinical diagnosis was delayed by 2 months and was confirmed by magn etic resonance imaging. Treatment began with skeletal patellar traction and was followed by late reconstruction of the patellar tendon and transfer of the gracilis and semitendonosus tendons supplemented by figure-of-eight te nsion band wiring.