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Joint depression aided prediction of bucket-handle meniscal tears after tibial plateau fracture
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BARCELONA, Spain — Investigators from the United Kingdom reported fracture widening of 8 mm seen on CT in patients with a tibial plateau fracture may predict a concomitant bucket-handle meniscal tear is present that needs to be addressed. However, they found no correlation of Schatzker fracture grade with the presence of a tear.
Aanchal Jain , an orthopedic and traumatology registrar at St. George’s Hospital in London, presented findings at the EFORT Annual Congress that showed a 10% incidence of bucket-handle meniscal tears among 88 patients with a tibial plateau fracture at her hospital who underwent open reduction and internal fixation with a plate between January 2015 and March 2017. Most of the fractures were Schatzker grade 2, she noted. More than 50% of the patients Jain and her colleagues studied had a joint depression seen on coronal CT that exceeded 10 mm, and 20% of patients had a soft tissue injury.
“Depression was found to be significant, and widening even more so,” Jain said.
“We recognize our study had limitations,” she said. The incidence of meniscal tears may have been underestimated because arthroscopy was not performed on all the knee joints, for example. – by Susan M. Rapp
Reference:
Jain A, et al. Paper 446. Presented at: EFORT Annual Congress; May 30-June 1, 2018; Barcelona, Spain.
Disclosure: Jain reports no relevant financial disclosures.