[The prevalence of intraarticular lesions in patients with active growth plate].

UNLABELLED: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are becoming increasingly prevalent in children and adolescents. In those who had undergone ligament injuries progressive meniscal damage is frequently observed. This, in turn, can lead to osteoarthritis in older age. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of ACL injury and/or other intraarticular lesions in patients with active growth plate.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

59 patients (30 girls and 29 boys) with an average age of 15.5 years (range 7-16 years) were included in the study. Thirty-nine injuries occurred during sports activities. Average time between knee trauma and surgery was 7,3 months (range 1 week-3 years). The relationships between meniscal and ligament injuries were analyzed by means of logistic regression.

RESULTS

Of all 50 patients had meniscal tears (36 localized in the medial side) and 35 ACL tears. Both type of injuries occurred together in 26 patients. Three patients had undergone additional cartilage injury. We observed that in patients with ACL injury medial meniscus tear was found with higher frequency (20 knees, 57%) than lateral one (6 knees, 17%). Although meniscal tear was slightly higher distributed in boys (27/29) than in girls (23/30), sex appeared not to be the risk factor to knee injury.

CONCLUSIONS

Anterior cruciate injuries are common in adolescents and have similar character to those observed in adults. Higher incidence of medial meniscus tear may be related to chronic anterolateral knee instability caused by delay in surgical treatment.