title: Painful bipartite patella. A new approach to operative treatment.
abstract: Thirteen patients who had fifteen painful bipartite patellae were managed with a new operative technique in which the vastus lateralis insertion to the painful patellar fragment is detached subperiosteally while the continuity of the tendon-periosteum complex to the main portion of the patella is preserved. A grossly mobile patellar fragment was removed from five patellae (three type-II and two type-III according to the classification of Saupe). A fragment that showed minimum mobility was left in situ in seven type-III and three type-II patellae. All of the patients had prompt relief of the pain and returned to full sports activity within two months after the operation. Six of the seven type-III fragments that had not been removed united by bone to the main portion of the patella within two years postoperatively, but all three type-II fragments failed to unite. Over-all, eleven patients (thirteen knees) had an excellent result at an average of five years postoperatively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogata
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001175:Arthrography; D001182:Arthroscopy; D017885:Collateral Ligaments / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000601:surgery*; D010329:Patella / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000379:methods