Arthroscopic treatment of anterior cruciate ligament tibial eminence avulsion fracture with double heads compressive cannulated screw fixation in adolescents

Objective To discuss the effectiveness of arthroscopic treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tibial eminence avulsion fracture in adolescents by using double heads compressive cannulated screw fixation. Methods Twenty-four patients with ACL tibial eminence avulsion fractures were treated by arthroscopic reduction and internal fixation with double heads compressive cannulated screw fixation between June 2014 and June 2017. There were 15 males and 9 females with an average age of 12.3 years (range, 5-18 years). The body mass index was 19.3-26.4 kg/m 2 (mean, 23.3 kg/m 2). The injury causes included traffic accident injury in 10 cases, sports injury in 8 cases, and falling injury in 6 cases. According to the Meyers-McKeever classification, there were 19 cases of type Ⅱ and 5 cases of type Ⅲa. All patients’ drawer test and pivot shift test were positive. The interval between injury and operation was 3-14 days (mean, 6.2 days). During the follow-up period, the fracture healing condition of patients were determined by X-ray examination; Lysholm score, International Knee literature Committee (IKDC) score, and Tegner score were used to evaluate the knee function. Results Primary healing of incision was obtained in all patients after operation. All the 24 patients were followed up 6-32 months (mean, 16.4 months). At 6 weeks after operation, 3 patients had difficulty in knee flexion. After the release of the knee joint by manipulation, the knee joint function recovered normally at 6 months after operation. At last follow-up, the X-ray films showed that all the fractures healed and no epiphyseal dysplasia, knee joint deformity, or leg length discrepancy occurred. The Lysholm score, IKDC score, and Tegner score were improved from preoperative 44.3±5.4, 43.7±4.4, and 3.0±1.3 to postoperative 93.1±4.3, 94.6±3.3, and 8.1±1.2, the differences were all significant ( t=25.152, P=0.000; t=28.634, P=0.000; t=13.226, P=0.000). Conclusion The arthroscopic reduction and internal fixation with double heads compressive cannulated screw in treatment of ACL tibial avulsion fracture (Meyers-McKeever type Ⅱ and Ⅲ) in adolescents has so many advantages, such as minimal trauma, simple operation, firm fixation, little effect on the epiphyseal plate, and has a good joint function recovery.