Abstract
We evaluated the radiological outcome of 87 patients with patella partita treated conservatively in our clinic and retrospectively investigated the influence of the stages of patella partita, chronological and bone age at presentation, patella brace, and limitation of sports activities on healing. There were 85 boys and two girls. At the time of this study, all but ten were active in sports. The mean age at presentation was 11.4 years (8 to 17). Healing was attained in 63 of 127 knees by conservative manegement, for a mean period of 14.8 months. The healing rate was 66.7% of the patients with early stage lesion (n=36), 47.4% of progressive stage (n=78), and 23.1% of terminal stage (n=13); 80% of patients in the 8-9 age group (n=15), 53.5% for those in the 10-11 age group (n=71), 43.3% for those in the 12-13 age group (n=30) and 0% for those in the 14 or elder age group (n=11); 62.5% of the group treated with the patella brace designed by us (n=64) and 53.3% of those who did not use the patella brace (n=30); 57.6% of patients who limited their sports activities (n=52) and 51.2% of those who continued with their sports activities (n=43).
From these results we may conclude that early diagnosis and treatment contribute to the healing of lesion.
