Abstract
We wish to report our observations on a prospective series of 22 patients with high energy posterolateral corner injuries undergoing surgery at our Unit.
Since 1997, all patients presenting to our Unit with posterolateral corner injuries were analysed prospectively. Twenty two patients are presented with a mean follow-up of two years. Thirteen patients underwent acute exploratory surgery within two weeks of injury. The majority of patients had four or more injured structures identified at operation. The surgery involved reattachment of the injured structures together with selective staged intra-articular reconstruction in high demand individuals. Nine patients were referred to our unit a number of years after their original accident. The majority of these chronic cases underwent popliteofibular reconstruction using semitendinosus. All patients from both groups returned to activities of daily living after surgery. Ten patients returned to sport after reconstruction. Eight out of ten of these had undergone acute reconstruction.
Posterolateral corner injuries are high-energy multiple ligament injuries. Acute repair with staged selective intra-articular reconstruction in our series led to 61% of the acute patients returning to sport. Only 22% of the patients presenting late, returned to sport after reconstruction. This suggests that patients are more likely to return to sport if their knees are reconstructed early and we would encourage an assertive approach to these high-energy injuries.
The abstracts were prepared by Mr Roger Smith. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the British Association for Surgery of the Knee, c/o BOA, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 35–43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PN.
