Injury of a bipartite patella in a young upcoming sportsman.

The aim of this study was to report the clinical features of a young athletic patient with bipartite patella, and review the literature to discuss the entity of this rare anomaly. In the course of an athletics competition, a 12-year-old top sportsman felt an intense pain around his left knee-cap while taking off from a jumping-board and broke down the competition. X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging showed an isolated distal pole of the patella with just minor diastasis; however, the X-rays did not suggest a recent fracture but rather hint at an atypically injured bipartite patella. A conservative therapy of 5 weeks with brace followed including a ban on sport activities for 12 weeks. Ten weeks later, the radiographs revealed a complete consolidation. Six months after the injury, MRI only presented a generally inconspicuous horizontal sclerosed structure. A fracture or separation of the bipartite patella was retrospectively diagnosed.