title: Injury of a bipartite patella in a young upcoming sportsman.
abstract: The aim of this study was to report the clinical features of a young athletic patient with bipartite patella, and review the literature to discuss the entity of this rare anomaly. In the course of an athletics competition, a 12-year-old top sportsman felt an intense pain around his left knee-cap while taking off from a jumping-board and broke down the competition. X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging showed an isolated distal pole of the patella with just minor diastasis; however, the X-rays did not suggest a recent fracture but rather hint at an atypically injured bipartite patella. A conservative therapy of 5 weeks with brace followed including a ban on sport activities for 12 weeks. Ten weeks later, the radiographs revealed a complete consolidation. Six months after the injury, MRI only presented a generally inconspicuous horizontal sclerosed structure. A fracture or separation of the bipartite patella was retrospectively diagnosed.
authors.affiliation: Praxis for Trauma and Hand Surgery, 1060 Vienna, Austria. roland.stocker@inode.at
authors.forename: Roland L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Stocker
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van Laer
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003288:Contusions / Q000175:diagnosis; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010012:Osteogenesis; D010329:Patella / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D011859:Radiography; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries