Bilateral Rupture of the Ligamentum Patellae: Two Case Reports and a Review of the Literature

Abstract

Rupture of the ligamentum patellae tends to occur within Its substance, in association with oral steroid medication, and/or active collagen disease. By comparison, avulsion of tendon from bone tends to occur in patients who are not taking oral steroid preparatfons and are not actively affected by one of the collagen diseases. Surgical repair produces excellent results.

Bilateral spontaneous concurrent rupture of the patellar tendon in a healthy man: case report and review of the literature

“…1) Systemic disorders such as chronic renal failure [28][29][30][31][32], systemic lupus erythematosus [18,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], rheumatoid arthritis [42,43], primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], alkaptonuria [44], diabetes mellitus [45,46], colitis ulcerous [47]. These diseases weaken the normal collagenous structures .…”

“…These patients have chronic local stress that could induce inflammatory and degenerative changes [50], summarized as ''Davidson's Theory'' [51]. 3) Drugs such as corticosteroids in local or long-term therapy [46,47,52,53], anabolic hormones [54], weight-reducing drugs [55] and fluoroquinolone antibiotics [56]. Corticosteroids are the most important and they act at 3 levels: they have an antimitotic effect on fibroblasts [57], an antisynthetic effect on fibroblasts when topically applied [58] and they stimulate collagenase.…”

Bilateral Simultaneous Infrapatellar Tendon Ruptures: A Case Study

“…surgical repair (4,6,9,15), description of follow-up examination, and final outcome (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Unfortunately, the case studies in the medical literature have not focused on the rehabilitation process.…”

“…Few simultaneous bilateral r u p tures of the patellar tendon have been reported in the literature (4)(5)(6)(7)(10)(11)(12)(15)(16)(17)19). T h e first documented case of bilateral ruptures in a healthy individual was reported by Fowler and Mitchell in 1950 (5), in a 13-year-old.…”

“…No mention of previous level of physical activity was provided. T h e most common mechanism precipitating rupture is tripping o r stumbling (6,7). Bilateral ruptures have also occurred during athletic activities (4,12,(15)(16)(17).…”