Paediatric knee fractures: A current concept review.

Abstract

Knee periarticular and intra-articular fractures in children and adolescents have specific features and should be carefully detected. Typical non-contact and contact mechanisms that may lead to an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a skeletally immature patient can cause a tibial eminence fracture. During patellar dislocation or other traumatic events, pure chondral fractures can occur and should be excluded. During sports, traumatic events leading to a forceful quadriceps contraction can cause specific paediatric fracture patterns such as patella sleeve and tibial apophyseal fractures. This review will highlight controversies and innovative aspects of non-operative and operative treatment, basic science, new evidence and unanswered questions for these fractures. <b>Level of evidence:</b> level V.