From wheelchair to walking: First case report of post-electrical burn destruction of patellar ligament with its one-stage reconstruction and restoration of function

Sandip Kanti Basu, Jayanta Bain, Bijay Kumar Majumdar, Debarati Chattopadhyay, Debasis Baitalik, Yatindra Kumar Dewangan, Debtanu Bhattacharya, Pritha Rakshit, Vivek Gupta, Ashwani Kumar, Rathindra Nath HaldarIndian Journal of Plastic Surgery 2017 50(1):100-103 Electrical burn injury causing bilateral patellar ligament destruction leading to complete loss of knee extension is a very rare injury. In such situation, surgical repair or reconstruction of the patellar ligament becomes necessary to restore knee functions. Here, we present such a case of an 8-year-old boy, whose both patellar ligaments were destroyed throughout its length due to high-voltage electrical injury. His left knee joint cavity was exposed and grossly infected, but the right knee joint cavity was apparently intact. The right-sided patellar ligament was reconstructed with an ipsilateral and looped semitendinosus tendon graft and covered with a medial gastrocnemius musculocutaneous flap. The patient had an uneventful recovery, and full range of motion in the right knee joint along with good bipedal locomotion was achieved successfully.
Source: Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery - Category: Cosmetic Surgery Authors: Source Type: research