Abstract
Traumatic dislocation of the knee is an uncommon but serious injury associated with extensive soft tissue damage and the danger of neurological and vascular involvement. During the periods from September 1983 to September 1992, we had experienced 21 cases of the traumatic dislocation of knee at the Guro and Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine. The results obtained from this study were as follows ; 1. The age of initial dislocation varied from 11 to 79 years with the average of 32. 8 years and the ratio of male to female was 20: 1. 2. Dislocations were classified into 5 types which were anterior in 9, posterior in 4, medial in 1, lateral in 4 and rotatory in 2 cases and also unclassified in 1 case. 3. Causes of the injury were traffic accident in 9, sports injury in 7, fall down in 4 and industriai injury was 1 case. 4. Complications of traumatic dislocation of the knee included popliteal artery rupture in 3, compartment syndrome in 2 and peroneal nerve palsy in 4 cases. 5. All of ligamentous injuries were repaired and augmented except 2 cases which were treated conservating 10-14 days after trauma and all of the cases of arterial injuries were repaired with an autogenous vein graft. 6. Results were excellent 3, good 12, fair 4, and poor 2 cases by Marvin classification at the average 27 months after operation. 7. Prompt completion of vascular repair is critical to avoid amputation and also operative repair of injured ligaments seems to be good method to yield good results with the improved stability.