• PURPOSE
    • The purpose of this study was to evaluate laxity and functional outcome of displaced tibial spine fractures in skeletally immature patients treated with arthroscopic reduction and internal fixation.
  • TYPE OF STUDY
    • Retrospective case series.
  • METHODS
    • Six patients (mean age, 12.0 years old) underwent subjective, objective, and instrumented knee laxity assessment at minimum 2 years (mean, 3.2 years) of follow-up time after arthroscopic reduction and 3.5-mm cannulated screw fixation of (Meyers and McKeever type III) tibial spine fractures.
  • RESULTS
    • Physical examination showed persistent laxity, with an abnormal Lachman examination in 5 of 6 patients and an abnormal pivot-shift examination in 2 of 6 patients. Instrumented knee laxity (KT-1000) showed greater than 3-mm manual-maximum side-to-side difference in 4 of 6 patients. Functional assessment revealed excellent function, with a mean Lysholm score of 99.5 (range, 98-100), mean Marshall score of 49.0 (range, 47-50), and mean Tegner score of 8.7 (range, 7-9).
  • CONCLUSIONS
    • Arthroscopic reduction and internal fixation of type III tibial spine fractures in skeletally immature patients results in persistent laxity but excellent functional outcome.