Congenital Complete Dislocation of Patella Causing Serious Disability in Childhood: the Operative Treatment

HENRIK ST0RJ3"While the congenital predisposition to recurrent dislocation of the patella in its various forms has been dealt with quite extensively in the literature ( D e Palma 1954, Kapel 1936), the author has been unable to find any description of the complete, congenital, irreducible dislocation of patella as an ailment per se since that of Mouchet & Durand (1921).However, the condition may well be more common than formerly believed, and may possibly be the underlying cause in some cases of permanent, total dislocation of patella in adults, because the malformation for years may give rise to very few symptoms and thus escape diagnosis during childhood.A t a later stage, secondary arthrosis may develop in the knee, but is inconstant.Cases are known where the patient with a total dislocation of patella has not been bothered by the disorder throughout a long span of life.As in cases of congenital, complete dislocation of patella which have been reported earlier, the disorder was also seen in the two present cases together with other congenital abnormalities.But here the progressive disability caused by the patellar dislocation completely dominated the clinical picture.The author was unable to find any description of the characteristic clinical findings in similar cases.The rarity of such cases prevents the presentation of a larger number of eases: Case f.Marit L., born 1956, girl, was admitted to the hospital at the age of five.She had an osteotomy performed on both femurs (probably a rotation osteotomy) in another hospital at the age of m e year.The osteotomies had united in some varus -~ ~~~~