Traumatic dislocation of the knee joint.

The results in thirty-three of fifty-three traumatic dislocations of the knee followed for more than one year confirmed our conclusion, made in 1971, that early repair of all torn ligaments gives the best results, and that the vascular status following this injury must be observed carefully since vascular repair or thrombectomy within eight hours of injury gives the best chance of preventing gangrene of the leg. The twenty associated fractures in these thirty-three patients were treated successfully with conventional methods, except for three displaced fractures of the medial tibial plateau in which closed reduction failed and internal fixation was required.