OBJECTIVE:
Describe the ligamentous and associated injuries that occur in the traumatic knee dislocation, relating them to the mechanisms of trauma and to identify patterns of injuries.
METHODS:
Twenty three knee dislocations were described in the period between March 2010 and March 2011. After the diagnosis of the lesions, the reduction and transarticular external fixation of the dislocated knees were done. At the second moment, the patients were evaluated with physical examination under anesthesia and the surgical exploration of peripheral lesions was perfomed by a surgeon of the knee surgery group of this institution.The patients data with the description of the injuries were found and registered.
RESULTS:
65% of patients were male, the average age was 35 years and the most common mechanism of trauma was the motorcycle accident (60%). The lesion of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) occurred in 75% of the cases, and the lesion of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in 95%. The medial peripheral injuries happened in 65% of the dislocations, and the lateral lesions in 40%. The most common dislocations were classified as KDI (25%) and as KDIIIm (25%). The arterial injury was present in 15% of the cases, and the nervous injury where registered in one patient (5%). At the initial radiographic evaluation, 45% of the dislocations presented reduced.
CONCLUSION:
The characteristics of the knee dislocations described showed a great range of variability demonstrating that an individualized evaluation of each case is mandatory. The surgeon should be able to recognize and choose the correct treatment to these lesions.
Knee Dislocation/diagnosis; Knee Dislocation/surgery; Knee Dislocation/epidemiology; Knee Injuries/diagnosis; Knee Injuries/surgery
