Evaluation and treatment of osteochondral injury of knee joint

Abstract

To investigate evaluation and treatment of osteochondral injury of knee joint and its effectiveness. Between January 2010 and January 2016, 17 patients with osteochondral injury of knee joint were admitted. There were 2 males and 15 females, with an average age of 19.3 years (range, 15-33 years). The causes of injury included the sprain in 14 cases and knee hyper-extension and varus due to violence in 3 cases. The osteochondral injury located at patella in 8 cases, lateral femoral condyle in 4 cases, medial femoral condyle in 1 case, and tibial plateau in 4 cases. There were 15 cases of fresh fractures and 2 cases of old fractures. The Lysholm score of the knee joint was 31.6±2.3. After open reduction of osteochondral fractures of 14 cases, the absorbable rods (9 cases), absorbable cartilage nail (3 cases), or absorbable sutures (2 cases) were selected for fixation. The osteochondral fractures at the medial tibial plateau margin (non-weight-bearing area) in 3 cases were removed. The incision fat liquefaction occurred in 1 case after operation and healed after debridement. The other incisions had primary healing. All 17 patients were followed up 6 months to 2 years (mean, 13 months). Thirteen of 14 patients with internal fixation had good fractures healing without traumatic arthritis; 1 case of patella osteochondral fracture did not heal. Three patients with non-weight-bearing osteochondral removal had no narrowing of the medial joint space and traumatic arthritis during the follow-up. The Lysholm score of knee joint at 1 year after operation was 91.3±1.1, which significantly improved when compared with preoperative score ( t=7.136, P=0.001). For the osteochondral injury of the knee joint, the osteochondral block with full-layer cancellous bone can be treated with open reduction and internal fixation; while osteochondral block with punctate cancellous bone can be directly remove.