He WP, Ren CM, Luo F, Chen L, Wang WT, Qiu BT, Zhang XC, Chen HT. Bilateral sleeve fracture of the superior pole of the patella in a healthy adult: A case report. World J Orthop 2025; 16(11): 110173 [DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i11.110173]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hai-Tao Chen, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 169 East Lake Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China. chenht33@sina.com
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Nov 18, 2025 (publication date) through Nov 20, 2025
Times Cited of This Article
Times Cited (0)
Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Orthopedics
ISSN
2218-5836
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
He WP, Ren CM, Luo F, Chen L, Wang WT, Qiu BT, Zhang XC, Chen HT. Bilateral sleeve fracture of the superior pole of the patella in a healthy adult: A case report. World J Orthop 2025; 16(11): 110173 [DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i11.110173]
Wen-Ping He, Ci-Meng Ren, Feng Luo, Li Chen, Wen-Tao Wang, Bing-Tao Qiu, Xiao-Cao Zhang, Department of Orthopaedics, Xishui Hospital Affiliated to Hubei University of Science and Technology, Huanggang 438200, Hubei Province, China
Hai-Tao Chen, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: He WP, Ren CM, Luo F, Chen L, Wang WT, Qing BT, and Zhang XC made substantial contributions to the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; He WP and Chen HT were responsible for the conception and design of the study, responsible for drafting and writing this manuscript; Ren CM and Luo F assisted He WP in completing the research. All authors confirm the authenticity of all the raw data.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hai-Tao Chen, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 169 East Lake Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China. chenht33@sina.com
Received: June 3, 2025 Revised: July 4, 2025 Accepted: September 25, 2025 Published online: November 18, 2025 Processing time: 168 Days and 2.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sleeve fracture of the patella is an unusual fracture, almost unique to children. The majority of sleeve fractures involve the inferior patellar pole. However, sleeve fractures of the superior pole of the patella are extremely rare in adults.
CASE SUMMARY
An 18-year-old male patient fell while running in the morning. The patient had tenderness to palpation at the superior pole of the patella, with a palpable gap over the upper part of the patella in both knees. We applied two 4.5-mm suture anchors with the Krackow stitch to repair the sleeve fracture, augmented by autogenous gracilis through performing the figure-of-eight technique. The patient regained approximately the full range of motion of the knee joint without any quadriceps weakness and a normal gait 6 weeks after surgery.
CONCLUSION
Sleeve fractures of the superior pole of the patella are extremely rare in adults, especially bilateral sleeve fractures. Suture anchors, augmented by autogenous gracilis, provided secure fixation and achieved excellent results in this rare injury.
Core Tip: Sleeve fractures of the superior pole of the patella were rare in adults. We report an extremely rare case of an 18-year-old man with a bilateral sleeve fracture of the superior pole of the patella that occurred after a sudden fall while running. The patient’s physical examination, imaging examinations, and surgical procedure are presented, along with relevant images. Suture anchors, augmented by autogenous gracilis, provided secure fixation and achieved excellent results in this rare injury.
