Introduction. Patellar tendon rupture is a rare injury which, if missed,
leads to delayed surgical treatment and may result in the loss of the knee
joint function. The aim of this study was to report our results of operative
treatment of the patellar tendon rupture and point out the significance of
timely diagnosis and surgical procedure. Material and Methods. This
retrospective tenyear study included 20 patients, 15 males and 5 females,
their mean age being 42 (20-84) years. Seven participants had an injury on
the right side and 13 had an injury on the left side. Thirteen participants
had the diagnosis set in the first seven days after the injury. The applied
techniques were surgical suture of the tendon, bone-tendon-bone
ligamentoplasty using allograft from a bone bank and bone-tendon-bone
ligamentoplasty using contralateral autograft, and they were performed in 12,
5 and 3 patients, respectively. The treatment results were assessed by using
the Lysholm score, measuring the range of movement in the knee joint and
measuring the girth of the thigh 10 cm above the patella. Results. The
follow-up period after the surgery was 4 years on average (1-10 years) and
the average value of the Lysholm score was 83 (27-100). The result was found
to be excellent in 11 cases, satisfactory in 5 cases and unsatisfactory in 4.
A statistically significant difference (p=0.0197 p<0.05) was found in the
average values of the Lysholm score between the group of patients with risk
factors (71.78) and the subjects without risk factors (92.18). A
statistically significant difference (p=0.008 p<0.01) was found in the
Lysholm score between the patients with timely diagnosis (91.62) and cases of
chronic tendon tear (67). Conclusion. Timely diagnosis and early surgical
reparation are the basic imperatives in the treatment of this injury.
Comorbidity and risk factors are related to a poorer postoperative Lysholm
score. The method of choice is early surgical treatment.