Knee dislocation is an uncommon orthopedic diagnosis with a high rate of neurovascular complications. The goal of definitive management is to provide a pain free and functional knee through restoration of ligamentous stability and range of motion. Operative management has been suggested to be superior to nonoperative management for knee dislocations largely in part owing to a meta-analysis on the topic published a decade ago. The purpose of this study was to summarize the results of operative and nonoperative treatment of knee dislocations over the past 10 year period. There were a total of 855 patients from 31 studies managed operatively and 61 patients from 4 studies managed nonoperatively. The overall methodological quality of the studies was poor as measured by the Newstead-Ottawa scale. Data regarding functional outcome, instability, contracture, and return to activity were all in favor of operative management. Significant differences were found for return to employment (P<0.001) and return to sport (P=0.001). The results of this study provide further evidence for the superiority of operative management, compared with nonoperative management, for knee dislocations across several clinical and functional domains. There is a need for higher level studies to assist the treating surgeon in the management of these challenging injuries.

Level II, prognostic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

The results of this study suggest that cognitive as well as non-cognitive factors evaluated during medical school admission are important in predicting future success in Medicine. The non-cognitive assessment provides additional value to standard academic criteria in predicting ranking by 2 residency programmes, and justifies its use as part of the admissions process.

All constructs showed no statistical differences when compared with one another, with the exception of construct E, which provided the least torsional stiffness. However, the current in vitro model did not simulate fracture healing or support offered by soft tissues, both of which would affect the stiffness and load-to-failure levels reached.

An acute knee dislocation is an uncommon injury, with a high rate of associated vascular and neurologic injuries as well as potentially limb-threatening complications. High-energy trauma is the most common cause of an acute knee dislocation, although lower-energy injuries, such as those sustained during athletic competition, are increasing in incidence. Injuries to the popliteal artery and common peroneal nerve are relatively common, requiring a high index of suspicion and complete neurovascular examination in a timely fashion. All cases of suspected knee dislocation should have an ankle-brachial index performed, reserving arteriography for those with an abnormal finding. Initial management consists of closed reduction, if possible, and application of a hinged brace or external fixator. Definitive management remains an area of controversy, although anatomic surgical repair or reconstruction is favored by most surgeons to help optimize knee function. Most patients treated for a knee dislocation can expect to return to their daily activities, but with less predictable returns to sporting activities.

Duration of surgery and incidence of intraoperative complications for THA may increase with later surgery start time; however, the relatively small statistical differences observed imply that they likely are not clinically significant.

The mechanical behavior of human femurs has been described in the literature with regard to torsion and tension but only as independent measurements. However, in this study, human femurs were subjected to torsion to determine if a simultaneous axial tensile load was generated. Fresh frozen human femurs (n=25) were harvested and stripped of soft tissue. Each femur was mounted rigidly in a specially designed test jig and remained at a fixed axial length during all experiments. Femurs were subjected to external and internal rotation applied at a constant angulation rate of 0.1 deg/s to a maximum torque of 12 N m. Applied torque and generated axial tension were monitored simultaneously. Outcome measurements were extracted from torsion-versus-tension graphs. There was a strong relationship between applied torsion and the resulting tension for external rotation tests (torsion/tension ratio=551.7±283.8 mm, R(2)=0.83±0.20, n=25), internal rotation tests (torsion/tension ratio=495.3±233.1 mm, R(2)=0.87±0.17, n=24), left femurs (torsion/tension ratio=542.2±262.4 mm, R(2)=0.88±0.13, n=24), and right femurs (torsion/tension ratio=506.7±260.0 mm, R(2)=0.82±0.22, n=25). No statistically significant differences were found for external versus internal rotation groups or for left versus right femurs when comparing torsion/tension ratios (p=0.85) or R(2) values (p=0.54). A strongly coupled linear relationship between torsion and tension for human femurs was exhibited. This suggests an interplay between these two factors during activities of daily living and injury processes.

For most outcome measures, no significant differences in functional outcome scores were observed between the 2 treatment groups. The results of this study suggest the need for a randomized controlled trial with a larger sample size to more definitively compare the 2 fixation constructs.