Chondromalacia patella: a nonoperative treatment program.

One hundred consecutively selected patients with chondromalacia patella were examined arthroscopically. The severity of the disease process was graded on the basis of the arthroscopic examination. A well-controlled nonoperative treatment program was instituted, and the end results were then tabulated when a minimum two-year follow-up had been achieved.A review of the literature revealed that others have graded chondromalacia.1"4 There have been previous reports of well-controlled nonoperative programs for chondromalacia patella utilizing a classification system based upon axial x-ray.5*6 A therapeutic approach to chondromalacia patella has been report ed, but no results of the efficacy of the system are available.7The need for a study combining an adequate sample, pretreatment grading of the severity of the disease, a uniform treatment program, and statistically significant results of the program became apparent.