Presentation
History of left knee pain and swelling post trauma.
Patient Data
There is a cleavage fracture of the lateral tibial plateau, with minimal displacement of the fracture fragment. Associated knee joint effusion and mild surrounding soft tissue swelling is also noted.
There are also degenerative changes of the tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints.
Case Discussion
The Schatzker classification is the most commonly used system of classifying tibial plateau fractures.
Schatzker type I fractures are classically described as being wedge shaped pure cleavage fractures of the lateral tibial plateau, with less than 4mm of depression or displacement.
The mechanism of injury is usually the lateral femoral condyle being driven into the tibial plateau articular surface and are seen more frequently in young patients with normal bone mineral density.
Type I fractures can be quite subtle and difficult to detect on plain radiography.