[Treatment of traumatic anterior dislocation of sternoclavicular joint with allogeneic tendon of "W" type knit].

Objective: To investigate effectiveness of allogeneic tendon of "W" type knit in repair of traumatic anterior dislocation of sternoclavicular joint.

Methods: Between June 2013 and June 2017, 12 patients with traumatic anterior dislocation of sternoclavicular joint after poor conservative treatment were treated with allogeneic tendon of "W" type knit. Of them, 10 were males and 2 were females, aged from 25 to 58 years (mean, 42 years). All injuries were caused by traffic accidents. The time from injury to operation was 4-12 weeks (median, 6 weeks). All of them were closed injuries. The patients had no fracture around the shoulder, or blood vessels, nerves, and other adjacent limb joint injuries. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, incision healing, and complications were recorded. The sternoclavicular joint was observed by X-ray film and CT at 1 year after operation. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) score, Rockwood score, modified Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score, and Constant-Murley score were used to evaluate the function of shoulder joint after operation.

Results: The operation time was 60-80 minutes (mean, 70 minutes). The intraoperative blood loss was 50-100 mL (mean, 60 mL). Primary healing of incision was obtained in all patients without complications. All the patients were followed up 12-24 months (mean, 18 months). At 1 year after operation, X-ray film and CT examination showed that the position of sternoclavicular joint was satisfactory. At 1 year after operation, the Rockwood score was 12-14 (mean, 13). The UCLA score was 28-34 (mean, 31). The VAS score was significant lower than that before operation ( P <0.05), and the Constant-Murley score and modified HSS score were significantly higher than those before operation ( P <0.05).

Conclusion: The repair of traumatic anterior dislocationr of sternoclavicula joint with allogeneic tendon of "W" type knit can effectively reconstruct the stability of the joint, retain the physiological fretting, and obtain satisfactory results.