Between 1995 and 2000, nine patients between the ages of 12 and 15 years were treated for very large osteochondral fractures of the lateral femoral condyle with internal fixation of the displaced osteochondral fragment with bioabsorbable pins. Initial healing in these patients has been assessed with either follow up arthroscopy or MRI scanning. Early results suggested very good healing of the detached fragments. The aim of this study was to review these patients at greater than five years follow up to assess how the healed articular cartilage has survived and performed. Eight of the nine patients were able to be followed up for clinical assessment, IKDC rating, Noyes Cincinnati Knee rating, radiologic and MRI assessment. Under the IKDC Knee Scoring system, five patients scored a final grade of A, two patients scored a grade of B and one patient scored C. Under the Noyes Cincinnati Knee Scoring system, three of the eight patients scored excellent, two scored good and three had a final rating of fair. There were no poor results. X-rays, including weight bearing views, were assessed for evidence of lateral compartment degeneration. Six patients had normal knee x-rays. Two patients had subchondral bony irregularity in the lateral compartment with subtle lateral compartment narrowing. We found that MRI scanning with specific cartilage sequences was an accurate way to assess healing and integrity of the articular cartilage at greater than 5 years. All patients had intact articular cartilage in the lateral compartment with no area of full thickness articular cartilage loss. Six of the eight patients had a small abnormal cleft-like signal corresponding to the likely posterior margin of the initial fracture fragment. Two patients had no cleft-like signal. The meniscii appeared normal in all patients. No evidence of pin tracts remained. Our five-year follow up results suggest that the majority of the reattached articular cartilage does survive and these young, active patients’ knees have functioned well. The outcome in the longer term remains guarded. We recommend that internal fixation of these fragments with bioabsorbable pins, or other appropriate means of fixation, is a worthwhile procedure.
