Abstract
Surgeons are often faced with very limited data available to make informed decisions
regarding the appropriate treatment of patients with posteromedial corner (PMC) injuries
of the knee. This study compared the outcomes of surgical repair versus reconstruction
in knee dislocation patients who have sustained injury to the PMC of the knee. Senior
author treated 113 consecutive knee dislocations with 115 PMC injuries over 7 years.
A total of 71 knee dislocation patients with 73 PMC tears qualified for the study
and were followed for a mean of 43 months. Patients who had a PMC repair were assigned
to treatment Group A. Group B included patients who had autograft reconstruction of
the PMC. Patients who had an allograft PMC were assigned to Group C. A total of 25
patients had a repair, with 5 failures (20%), whereas 48 patients had reconstruction
of the PMC with 2 failures (4%). There was a significant difference between the failure
rate of PMC repairs and PMC reconstructions. Reconstruction of the PMC using a technique
that reestablishes the critical triangle of the medial collateral ligament, the posterior
oblique ligament, and the semitendinosus yielded better stability than repair in patients
with a knee dislocation that included PMC instability.
Keywords
knee dislocation - posteromedial corner repair - posteromedial corner reconstruction
