Comparison of three internal fixation methods for treatment of patellar fractures

Objective To compare patellar ring, Kirschner wire tension band and patellar ring plus Kirschner wire in fixation for treatment of patella fractures. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the 285 patients with patellar fracture who had been treated between September 2009 and January 2016. They were 155 men and 130 women, with an average age of 45.5 years (from 18 to 70 years). Their fractures included 176 transverse, 28 longitudinal split and 81 comminuted ones. They were divided into 3 groups according to their different internal fixation methods: patellar ring fixation (98 cases), Kirschner wire tension band (92 cases), patellar ring plus Kirschner wire fixation (95 cases). The 3 groups were compared in terms of operative time, intraoperative bleeding, fracture healing time, knee function by Bostman score at the last follow-up and postoperative complications. Results The operative time in the patellar ring group(58.9±6.4 min) was significantly shorter than in the Kirschner wire group (71.8±7.8 min) and in the patellar ring plus Kirschner wire group (74.4±8.0 min) (P 0.05). The good to excellent rate of knee function at the last follow-up in the Kirschner wire tension band group was 100.0% (92/92), significantly higher than in the patellar ring group (90.8%, 89/98) and in the patellar ring plus Kirschner wire group (91.6%, 87/95) (P 0.05). Conclusion Internal fixation with Kirschner wire tension band has definite curative effect on patellar fractures, showing the advantages of less operative invasion, fewer postoperative complications, better functional recovery of the affected knee joint, and lower price over the other 2 internal fixation methods. Key words: Patella; Fractures, bone; Fracture fixation, internal; Internal fixators; Case-control studies