Displaced avulsion fractures of the posterior cruciate ligament: Treated by stellate steel plate fixation

Background:

The open reduction with internal fixation is an effective approach for treatment of avulsion fracture of posterior cruciate ligament. The previously used internal fixation materials including hollow screws, absorbable screw, tension bands and sutures have great defects such as insufficient fixation strength, susceptibility to re-fracture, etc. Stellate steel plate is novel material for internal fixation which has unique gear-like structure design. We used stellate steel plate for treatment of displaced avulsion fractures of posterior cruciate ligament in this study.

Materials and Methods:

14 patients (9 men, 5 women; aged, 19–35 years; mean age, 28 years) with displaced avulsion fractures of the tibial insertion of the posterior cruciate ligament were retrospectively analyzed between June 2009 and June 2011. The mean duration from injury to the operation was 8.3 days (range 6–15 days). All the patients were treated with open reduction and internal fixation of a stellate steel plate (DePuy, Raynham, MA 02767, USA). The Lysholm-Tegner knee function score criteria were used to analyze results.

Results:

The mean followup was 24.6 months (range 18–32 months). After 6 months, all the fractures healed and knee joint activity was normal, with no knee stiffness or instability. The Lysholm-Tegner scores were 97.1 ± 1.7 points at the final followup.

Conclusion:

Owing to its unique gear structure, the stellate steel plate design can effectively fix an avulsion fracture block and it is a simple operation with short postoperative rehabilitation time and firm fixation.