[Diagnosis and therapy of cruciate ligament injuries in childhood. Clinical results].

In 19 years 21 children were operated upon anterior or posterior ligament ruptures. Follow-up based on policlinical data and 12 out of 21 patients were tested on follow-up (average follow-up time: 5.5 years). We made notes of the clinical data of an examination with the knee-arthrometer KT-1000 as well as of radiologic and sonographic methods. The subsequent scoring revealed mostly good to very good results. Still, in the long run it would be desirable to perform a prospective multicenter study to obtain statistically relevant data to give advice for ideal surgical treatment of ligamentous knee injuries in children.