Arthroscopic Quadriceps Tendon Repair: Two Case Reports

Abstract

Recently, although some studies of open repair of the tendon of the quadriceps femoris have been published, there have been no reports in the literature on primary arthroscopic repair. In our present study, we present two cases of quadriceps tendon injury arthroscopically repaired with excellent results. Case 1 involved a 68-year-old man who was injured while shifting his weight to prevent a fall. MRI showed complete rupture at the insertion of the patella of the quadriceps tendon. The rupture was arthroscopically repaired using both suture anchor and pull-out suture fixation methods via bone tunnels (hereafter, pull-out fixation). Two years after surgery, retearing was not observed on MRI and both Japan Orthopedic Association (JOA) Knee and Lysholm scores had recovered to 100. Case 2 involved a 50-year-old man who was also injured when shifting his weight to prevent a fall. MRI showed incomplete superficial rupture at the insertion of the patella of the quadriceps tendon. The rupture was arthroscopically repaired using pull-out fixation of six strand sutures. One year after surgery, MRI revealed a healed tendon and his JOA and Lysholm scores were 95 and 100, respectively. Thus, arthroscopic repair may be a useful surgical method for repairing quadriceps tendon injury.

A Survey of Treatment Trends for Acute Quadriceps Tendon Ruptures Among North American Surgeons

“…To our knowledge, we are unaware of any clinical studies that adequately show that early ROM in patients with acute QTR leads to decreased rates of stiffness. The majority of rehabilitation programs have been described in case reports and series, 16,25,28,37 with only 1 case report noted to provide a detailed rehabilitation protocol paired with functional objectives and return-to-sports goals. 35 To date, no validated postoperative protocol exists within the literature.…”

Open Repair of Quadriceps Tendon With Suture Anchors and Semitendinosus Tendon Allograft Augmentation

“…Repair can be achieved both arthroscopically and via an open procedure with good results. 10 , 11 Surgical repair techniques described include simple running sutures, suture anchor fixation, transosseous suture repair, and graft augmentation. All of these repair techniques have been reported to have good clinical results.…”