To investigate the clinical features of patients with hyperextension bicondylar tibial plateau fractures (HEBTPs), and assess surgical effectiveness of HEBTP and non-HEBTP fracture patients.

From June 2014 to May 2017, 82 patients with bicondylar tibial plateau fracture were included in this study. There were 63 patients with 63 knees (76.8%) that had sustained non-HEBTPs, and 19 patients with 19 knees (23.2%) that had HEBTPs, including 49 males and 33 females with a mean age of 48.3 years (range, 22-76). Of the 19 HEBTPs patients, 4 cases were hyperextension valgus injury, 9 cases were hyperextension varus injury, and 6 cases were pure hyperextension injury. All patients were treated with open reduction internal fixation combined with bone grafting or non-bone grafting. All follow-up patients were evaluated clinically and radiographically, included the incidence of associated injuries, infection, posttraumatic osteoarthritis, range of motion (ROM) of knee, numeric rating scale (NRS) for assessment of pain, and Short Musculoskeletal Functional Assessment (SMFA) scores for assessment of knee function. The fracture healing and postoperative alignment were assessed with anteroposterior and lateral X-rays.

All patients were followed up for 12-22 months, the mean follow-up time was 15.4 months. Bone union was obtained in all patients, and the bone union time was 12.6 weeks (ranged: 12-16 weeks). At the last follow up, all patients had full range of motion. The incidence of significant associated injuries was 36.8% in the HEVBTP group compared with 15.8% in the non-HEBTP group. The incidence of popliteal artery injury, common peroneal nerve injury and ligament injury that needed repair in 19 HEBTPs patients was 21.1%, 26.3% and 31.6%, respectively, while the corresponding incidence of complications in 63 non-HEBTPs patients was 3.2%, 4.8%, and 9.5%, respectively. The NRS pain score of HEBTPs and non-HEBTPs at 12 months after surgery was 3.89±1.9 and 2.76±1.88, respectively. The value of HEBTPs patients was higher than that of non-HEBTPs patients, But the difference was not statistically significant. The SMFA scores of HEBTPs and non-HEBTPs patients at 12 months after surgery were 27.27±19.44 and 17.09±15.87, respectively. Patients with HEBTP had higher functional (SMFA) scores and a trend of higher pain scores than those with non-HEBTP, indicating associated soft-tissue damage and developed posttraumatic osteoarthritis.

The present showed that the HEBTP is a unique fracture. These injuries result in worse functional outcomes than non-HEBTP. Physicians must recognize the possible associated injuries (included ligaments, vessels and nerves), and the treatment effect of HEBTP is relatively poor.

Tibial fractures; Comparative study; Postoperative complications; Prognosis