BACKGROUND Ankle fractures excluding pilon fractures, account for approximately 9% of all fractures with the majority being OTA type B injuries. Although surgeons generally treat undisplaced or minimally displaced injuries nonoperatively and displaced fractures operatively, opinions diverge regarding the management of those displaced fractures with acceptable closed reduction. There is also deb...

Restoration of fibular length in pronation and other comminuted ankle fractures is key to good clinical outcomes and is often a challenging aspect of open reduction and internal fixation of the fibula. This article reports the use of a pin distractor to achieve appropriate fibular reduction in otherwise challenging ankle fractures. The authors describe the use of a pin distractor to obtain leng...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Plain radiographs may fail to reveal an ankle fracture in children because of developmental and anatomical characteristics. In this systematic review and meta- analysis, we estimated the prevalence of occult fractures in children with acute ankle injuries and clinical suspicion of fracture, and assessed the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound (US) in the detection of occult...

Ankle fractures are among the most common injuries treated by orthopaedic surgeons. 1 Most of the rotational ankle fracture mechanisms described by Lauge-Hansen can lead to posterior malleolar fractures by avulsion of the posterior tibial fibular ligament especially the posterior external rotation (PER) injury. Trimalleolar fractures are known to have a worse prognosis than bimalleolar fracture...

The incidence of osteoporosis is increasing as the elderly population grows. Because these patients remain active, fragility fractures of the ankle are becoming more common. The literature indicates a relatively high complication rate for non-operative management of ankle fractures in this patient cohort, leading surgeons to face challenges unique to patients with poor bone and skin quality. Th...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to assess MDCT findings and the advantages of MDCT compared with radiography in patients referred to a level 1 trauma center for diagnostic evaluation of acute ankle and foot trauma. MATERIALS AND METHODS During a period of 37 months, 388 patients underwent MDCT of the ankle and foot due to an acute trauma. Imaging studies (MDCT and radiography) were ret...

In a sports medicine center, we prospectively evaluated the Ottawa Ankle Rules over 1 year for their ability to identify clinically significant ankle and midfoot fractures and to reduce the need for radiography. We also developed a modification to improve specificity for malleolar fracture identification. Patients with acute ankle injuries (< or = 10 days old) had the rules applied and then had...

Ankle cheilectomy as surgical treatment for anterior ankle impingement has high rates of procedural success and low rates of complications when performed before the onset of significant osteoarthritis. We present 3 patients who developed insufficiency fractures of the talar neck following cheilectomy for anterior ankle impingement. Due to the high risk of avascular necrosis associated with disp...