Outcomes following trochleoplasty for patellar instability with trochlear dysplasia: a systematic review

Trochleoplasty is a procedure to deepen the trochlear groove in patients with trochlear dysplasia. This systematic review evaluates the clinical and radiological outcomes following trochleoplasty for patellar instability due to trochlear dysplasia. An electronic literature search was performed using the AMED, British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Cochrane, EMBASE, ovid Medline, physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro), PsycINFO, Pubmed and Zetoc databases from their inception to August 2007. All English language, human subject clinical studies, detailing the clinical and/or radiological outcomes of patellar instability patients following a trochleoplasty were included. Six papers were reviewed. Two independent reviewers appraised each paper using the CASP tool. Trochleoplasty was shown to be a safe and effective procedure to correct patellar instability in trochlear dysplasia patients. However, the evidence-base currently has a number of methodological limitations. Accordingly this review’s findings should be viewed with caution. Recommendations for further study are made to develop the evidence-base.