Poster 246: Epidemiology of Tibial Spine Fractures in Children: A National Multicenter Study

Tibial spine fractures (TSFs) are avulsion fractures at the insertion of the anterior cruciate ligament at the tibial intercondylar eminence. TSFs are rare injuries thought to occur most frequently in skeletally immature children aged 8 to 14 years. Historically, it was thought that the most common mechanism was falling off of bicycles, but recent research suggests a variety of additional mechanisms. Treatment for TSFs can be operative or nonoperative depending on fracture type/severity, concomitant injuries, and surgeon and patient/family preference. Estimates of the epidemiology of this patient population are limited to primarily single-center reports. The objective of this investigation was to characterize epidemiology, including demographic information, injury mechanism, fracture type, and selection of surgical or nonsurgical treatment, in this injury population across eight geographically distinct institutions using retrospective data.