ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristic of patellar sleeve fracture in children, so as to improve the understanding of pediatric patellar sleeve fracture and reduce the misdiagnosis rate.Methods:Clinical data of 18 children with patellar sleeve fractures admitted and followed up in Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University from January 2013 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including 10 males and 8 females with the mean age of 11.4 years (8.0-14.0 years). There were 10 right patellar sleeve fracture cases, 7 left cases, and 1 case on both sides.Classified by the fracture cause, 10 cases were caused by falls, 3 cases of high jump, 2 cases of falling from height, 2 cases of car accidents, and 1 case of rope skipping, and all of cases were closed injuries.The mean post-injury visit to Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University was 3.5 days (4 hours -7 days). Twelve out of cases were transferred from other hospitals.All patients were treated with the open reduction and tension band wiring or patella tendon suturing through bone tunnel + patella circumferential wire banding and fixation.The curative effect of patella fracture was evaluated by the Bostman score.Results:Eighteen children with patellar sleeve fracture were diagnosed and treated promptly after admission, and regularly followed up after the operation for an average of 14 months (9-28 months). All cases achieved stage Ⅰ wound healing, and Kirschner wires and steel wires were removed according to the condition of fracture healing at 6 to 10 months postoperatively.According to the Bostman score for evaluating the patella fracture, 15 cases were excellent, 3 cases were good, and there were no missed or misdiagnosed cases.Conclusions:Patella sleeve avulsion fracture is a unique type of fracture in children.As cartilage is the main distal avulsion fracture lesion, it is difficult to be detected on X-ray scans, thus easily leading to missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.Improving the understanding of this fracture type is the key to the early diagnosis and treatment.