Treatment of patellar Fractures with Modified Tension Band Wiring

Son, Myung Hwan; Kim, Byung Chul; Kang, Nam Wook; Choi, Tae Young

Abstract

The aim of treatment of patellar fracture is the restoration of knee joint function and quadriceps muscle power. Comminuted and displaced fracture of the patella, which are difficult to reduce accurately and to get stable internal fixation, may lead to traumatic osteoarthritis, chondromalacia, limited ROM of the knee joint. In this series, we treated 29 cases of displaced transverse and comminuted fractures with modified tension band wiring. In severely comminuted fractures, the fragments were indirectly reduced by cerclage wire and then fixed with modified tension band wiring. We could obtain stable fixation and early ROM of the knee joint. There were 5 complications including wire breakage and wire loosening. In this respect, we concluded that modified tension band wiring was a good method for displaced transverse and comminuted patellar fracture.