Patella incarceration with associated patella fracture: a rare case of a paediatric patient with no associated femoral fracture

Abstract

We describe the case of a 15-year-old girl who presented to the Accident and Emergency Department with right knee pain and a tense effusion following a twist and fall directly onto her right knee. An MRI scan demonstrated that she had an incarcerated dislocated patella with an associated patella avulsion fracture. This required open reduction. Open reduction and fixation was performed using suture anchors. We feel that this case is particularly pertinent since nearly all previous case reports describe an incarcerated patella with an associated femur fracture. Furthermore, no previous case reports have been published in a child.

Keywords: knee injuries; knee laxity; orthopaedic and trauma surgery; orthopaedics.