title: Laceration of tibialis anterior tendon complicating a closed tibial fracture: a case report.
abstract: Traumatic laceration of the tibialis anterior tendon complicating a closed tibial shaft fracture is a rare injury pattern. Only 3 such cases have been reported to date in the English literature and all were missed on initial examination. A case of a 17-year-old motorcyclist with an acute laceration of the tibialis anterior tendon resulting from a closed oblique tibial shaft fracture is presented. The tendon laceration was suspected preoperatively because of the patient's inability to actively dorsiflex his ankle joint and the existence of a palpable gap in the soft tissues over the anterolateral aspect of his tibia. Tibialis anterior tendon repair was performed simultaneously with fracture fixation. The role of careful physical examination is stressed so that this rare injury combination will not be missed.
authors.affiliation: A'Orthopaedic Department, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. givissis@med.auth.gr
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Givissis
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Christodoulou
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karataglis
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Terzidis
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pournaras
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005592:Fracture Fixation; D005596:Fractures, Closed / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D022125:Lacerations / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery