SHOULDER Sternoclavicular dislocation—reconstruction with semitendinosus tendon autograft: a case report Wagner Castropil Æ Lucas Busnardo Ramadan Æ Alexandre Carneiro Bitar Æ Breno Schor Æ Caio de Oliveira D’Elia Received: 28 January 2008 / Accepted: 10 March 2008 / Published online: 17 April 2008 Ó Springer-Verlag 2008 Abstract Traumatic sternoclavicular dislocation is a rare injury corresponding to less than 5% of all injuries of the scapular belt. It is preferentially treated through reduction of the sternoclavicular joint, symptom relief, a brief period of immobilization and rehabilitation, with the aim of gaining strength and range of motion. In some patients, however, this type of injury may progress with instability and pain, thus causing discomfort and pain. On such occasions, surgical treatment is chosen. The objective of this study was to report the clinical case of a sports player who progressed with chronic traumatic anterior instability of the sternoclavicular joint and underwent reconstruction using the ipsilateral semitendinosus tendon. This was a 16-year-old male patient who was a state-level judo player. Following a fall during a fight, he presented pain, slight deformity and edema in the right sternoclavicular joint, and he underwent conservative treatment for 12 months, without success. In the end, reconstruction of the sternoclavicular joint was carried out using the ipsilateral autologous semitendinosus, with resection of the intra- articular disc and suturing of the costoclavicular ligaments. We have presented a case of dislocation of the sterno- clavicular joint in a high-performance judo player who underwent reconstruction using the semitendinosus, with excellent functional results after 1 year of follow-up. Keywords Orthopedics Á Trauma in sports players Á Sternoclavicular joint Á Autologous transplantation Á Treatment results Introduction Traumatic sternoclavicular dislocation is a rare injury corresponding to less than 5% of all injuries of the scapular belt [4, 8, 10]. It usually results from direct high-energy trauma or indirect trauma following a fall. The culmination is dislocation or subdislocation of the sternoclavicular joint, or epiphyseal lesion of the medial clavicle in immature skeletons [10, 11, 16]. Although rare, such injuries deserve rapid diagnosis and effective treatment to avoid future complications. Anterior dislocation is three to twenty times more common than posterior dislocation [10, 12], and normally it presents few complications. Posterior dislocation, which is rare, may cause serious complications due to compression of prime central struc- tures by the medial clavicle. Respiratory discomfort, lesions of the brachial plexus and arterial insufficiency are some of the harmful consequences of this type of dis- location [3, 6, 7, 9]. Acute or chronic anterior dislocation of the sternocla- vicular joint is mostly treated by means of symptom relief, a W. Castropil (&) Á L. B. Ramadan Á A. C. Bitar Á B. Schor Á C. de Oliveira D’Elia Instituto Vita, Rua Mato Grosso, 306, 1st Floor, Higieno ´polis, CEP: 01239-040 Sa ˜o Paulo, SP, Brazil e-mail: isabela@vita.org.br; castropil@vita.org.br L. B. Ramadan e-mail: lucas@vita.org.br A. C. Bitar e-mail: bitar@vita.org.br B. Schor e-mail: breno@vita.org.br C. de Oliveira D’Elia e-mail: caio@vita.org.br 123 Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc (2008) 16:865–868 DOI 10.1007/s00167-008-0527-9