Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture in Skeletally Immature Patients.

In the past 20 years, sports injuries in pediatric and adolescent athletes have increased dramatically, with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries accounting for more than 25% of all knee injuries at this age. Diagnosis is based on detailed clinical history, physical examination, and imaging assessment, where magnetic resonance imaging plays a central role. The growing immature skeleton presents specific characteristics, which require unique methods for surgical reconstruction, ideally avoiding the physes or minimizing the risk of damaging them. Specific rehabilitation protocols are needed, and these patients face a higher risk of recurrent and contralateral ACL injury. Nonsurgical treatment or delayed reconstruction has been associated with persistent instability, activity modifications, worst functional outcomes, and increased risk of irreparable injuries to menisci and articular cartilage. Consequently, surgical stabilization is the preferred treatment for most patients, despite the eventual risk of angular deformities or limb-length discrepancies due to iatrogenic physeal injury. A variety of surgical techniques have been described, depending on the skeletal maturity and growth remaining. Targeted prevention programs play a key role in reducing the risk of ACL injury, are easy to implement, and require no additional equipment. High-quality evidence supports its use in all pediatric athletes.

Ankle fractures in children.

Ankle fractures are common in children, and they have specific implications in that patient population due to frequent involvement of the physis in a bone that has growth potential and unique biomechanical properties.Characteristic patterns are typically evident in relation to the state of osseous development of the segment, and to an extent these are age-dependent.In a specific type known as transitional fractures - which occur in children who are progressing to a mature skeleton -a partial physeal closure is evident, which produces multiplanar fracture patterns.Computed tomography should be routine in injuries with joint involvement, both to assess the level of displacement and to facilitate informed surgical planning.The therapeutic objectives should be to achieve an adequate functional axis of the ankle without articular gaps, and to protect the physis in order to avoid growth alterations.Conservative management can be utilized for non-displaced fractures in conjunction with strict radiological monitoring, but surgery should be considered for fractures involving substantial physeal or joint displacement, in order to achieve the therapeutic goals. Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2021;6:593-606. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.6.200042.