Case: A 14-year-old boy presented with a neglected patellar sleeve fracture, resulting in a 19 cm gap between the retracted quadriceps and patella. A stepwise surgical reconstruction combining the “Chambat Sardine Can” tensioning technique, tibial tubercle transfer, rectus femoris release, and allograft bridging was performed. Conclusion: This is the first reported case of such a massive quadriceps retraction. The adaptable surgical strategy, tailored to defect severity, led to excellent functional outcomes and may be applied in both pediatric and adult chronic extensor mechanism ruptures.
Chotel et al. (2026) studied this question.