Immediate identification and management of an open posterior knee dislocation: Important lessons from a case report

Traumatic knee dislocation represents a rare event, contributing to less than 0.02 % of all orthopedic trauma and 0.05 % of joint dislocations, respectively. It is critically important to recognize, identify, and appropriately manage such cases as ‘time’ is implicated as an outcome-determining factor. Thus, such cases warrant quick consideration and appropriate management to mitigate the possibility of neurovascular damage and long-term sequelae. We report a case of a 59-year-old man struck by a motor vehicle in a remote rural community in northern Mexico managed with external fixation 16 h after the initial trauma, and later resulting in a supracondylar amputation. The authors of this case report underline the importance of timely intervention strategies when faced with such cases of knee dislocation and promote enhanced training of peripheral trauma-care providers to help improve patient outcomes.