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Predicting Risk of Recurrent Patellar Dislocation

  • Advances in Patellofemoral Surgery (L Redler, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Lateral patellar dislocation (LPD) is one of the most common injuries of the knee, especially in a young patient. It is multifactorial with several underlying risk factors. The purpose of this review is to present the most recent data concerning risk factors and their predictive value to estimate recurrent LPD risk.

Recent Findings

Several demographic risk factors (age, skeletal immaturity, sex, bilaterality), mechanism of injury, and anatomic risk factors (trochlear dysplasia, patella alta, excessive tibial tubercle lateralization, increased patellar tilt) have been recognized. The combination of different risk factors, their relative contribution to instability, weightage of each factor, and multivariate analysis have led to the development of a prediction model and instability scoring system.

Summary

If recurrent instability and poor outcomes could be predicted based on these prediction tools, then alternative treatment or early surgical intervention after first-time LPD could be considered. This information can also be used to predict contralateral LPD and failure of surgical treatment. Current prediction tools are mainly based on retrospective studies. In the future, prospective validation of these prognostic factors would be beneficial.

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Correspondence to Shital N. Parikh.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Advances in Patellofemoral Surgery

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Parikh, S.N., Lykissas, M.G. & Gkiatas, I. Predicting Risk of Recurrent Patellar Dislocation. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 11, 253–260 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-018-9480-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-018-9480-5

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