Operative Treatment of Fracture of the Tibial Condyle

The fracture of the tibial condyle involving the articular surface can produce some disability of the knee joint because it is frequently accompanied by soft tissue injury to the ligaments and menisci. Accurate anatomical reduction and rigid internal fixation with early mobilization is known to provide good results. The authors analysed 50 cases of the fracture of the tibial condyle which were treated with recent method(anatomical reduction, rigid fixation and early joint motion) at the Dae Han Hospital from January, 1988 to May, 1993. The results were summerized as follows: 1. The associated injuries were ligamentous injury in 24 cases(48%), fibular fracture in 21 cases(42%), femur fracture in 7 cases(14%) and meniscal injury in 7 cases(14%). 2. According to Hohl's classification, the split compression type was most common in 17 cases(34%), and there were 14 comminuted type(28%), 8 local compression type(16%), 7 total condylar compression type(14%) and 4 split type(8%). 3. Method of internal fixation were plate & screw in 32 cases(64%), tibial bolt & screw in 18 cases(36%), bone graft in 31 cases(62%), ligament repair in 24 cases(48%) and menisectomy in 4 cases(8%). 4. The clinical result by Insall's criteria were excellent in 37 cases(74%), good in 8(16%), fair in 3(6%), poor in 2(4%) among 50 cases.