Arthroscopically assisted treatment of tibial plateau fractures.

Abstract We present a new technique for arthroscopically assisted treatment of tibial plateau fractures using custom-made instruments designed for this technique. An impactor was modified so that its tip was concave to enable grasping of the cancellous bone; thus, there is always relatively thick, compressed cancellous bone between a depressed fragment and the tip of the impactor throughout the reduction maneuver. In this way, the risk of the tip of the impactor protruding into the joint space by mistake is eliminated and an accurate and quick reduction of depressed fragments is possible without using fluoroscopy.