High-energy knee dislocation without anterior cruciate ligament disruption in a skeletally immature adolescent.

Abstract

Knee dislocations are rare injuries in any age group, but even more unusual in skeletally immature individuals. Such injuries often occur from high-energy mechanisms and are commonly associated with disruption of both anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. Although there are several previous reports of knee dislocation without disruption of the posterior cruciate ligament, there is only one report citing 3 cases of knee dislocation with the anterior cruciate ligament remaining intact, each occurring in skeletally mature individuals. We present a high-energy knee dislocation in a skeletally immature girl without anterior cruciate ligament disruption. We also discuss the evaluation, management, and outcome. Treatment of this condition with arthroscopically assisted posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using tibialis anterior allograft 2 weeks after the acute injury resulted in complete functional recovery.