Proximal "tube" realignment of the patella for chondromalacia patellae.

In young people complaining of patellar pain there is often an anatomic basis (an increased quadriceps angle or a high-riding patella). Forty-eight knees with one or other of these abnormalities underwent proximal quadriceps realignment. The results were excellent or good in 94%. Shaving of chondromalacic cartilage was also done in 11 knees but did not seem to improve the results, and is not now recommended except for "blister" lesions. Extensor mechanism dysplasia is an etiologically correct name for the disorder and therefore preferable to "chondromalacia patellae."