title: Tripartite patella: late appearance of a third ossification center in childhood.
abstract: Bilateral radiographic progression of the supero-lateral fragment of a bipartite- into a tripartite patella with unilateral symptoms. An 8 year old girl presented a bilateral bipartite patella Stage III as an incidental finding after fall on the flexed right knee. Serial radiographs two years later revealed a bilateral progression of the bipartite- into a tripartite patella with complaints only on the post-traumatic right side. Observation was opted as therapy. There was no correlation of symptoms and radiological findings of the fragmentation of the bipartite- into a tripartite patella. Therefore we conclude the etiology of a bilateral late appearance of a third ossification center.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, University of Zurich, Balgrist, Zurich, Switzerland. matthias.zumstein@balgrist.ch
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zumstein
authors.forename: Atul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sukthankar
authors.forename: Georg Ulrich
authors.initials: GU
authors.lastname: Exner
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010329:Patella / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011859:Radiography