Eighty-one knees surgically treated and twenty-six conservatively
treated for recurrent dislocation of the patella in seventy-eight patients
were studied. The average follow-up on the surgically treated knees was
eight years and on the conservatively treated knees, sixteen years. In the
non-surgical group dislocations tended to become less frequent with
advancing age and there was very little evidence of osteoarthritis. After
the sixty-nine tibial tubercle transfers there was a 20 per cent recurrence
rate; further procedures were often needed, and the incidence of late
osteoarthritis was disturbingly high. After the twelve soft-tissue
corrections without movement of the tibial tubercle, dislocation recurred
in three, but late osteoarthritis was not seen.