Osgood Schlatter disease: An Audit Profile of 35 Adolescents

Abstract

Background Osgood-Schlatter disease is a common cause of anterior knee pain in the adolescent. Treatment is usually conservative with surgery reserved for those who do not respond to this treatment. There is little published work regarding the experience with the disease in our local set up. This series documents the experience with 35 adolescents treated for the disease.

Design Case series

Subjects Thirty five adolescents with clinical and radiological diagnoses of Osgood-Schlatter disease at Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospitals, between 2001and 2007.

Method Patients were evaluated for demographics, knee involvement, activities associated with pain and treatment outcome

Results There were 28 males and 7 females, aged 10 to 16 years (mean 12.8 years). Thirteen had bilateral knee involvement. Twenty two were involved in active sports while the rest had constant pain and unable to sit or kneel. A family history of the disease was documented in one case. Thirty adolescents responded well to the conservative treatment. In the five adolescents who underwent surgery, the patella tendon was edematous with thickening of the tendon sheath and neovascularisation. All the operated adolescents returned to active sports with 6 weeks after the surgery.

Conclusion Osgood-Schlatter disease is a self-limiting condition in majority of adolescents. Surgery when indicated has an excellent outcome.