Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the clinical and radiological outcomes between locking plates and non-locking plates using posterior anti-glide plating for supination external rotation type lateral malleolar fractures. Materials and Methods A total of 50 patients who underwent internal fixation of posterior anti-glide plating due to lateral malleolar fractures, classified as supination-external rotation (SER) as per the Lauge-Hansen classification system, at our hospital from January 2017 to November 2018 were retro-spectively evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups: 1/3 semi-tubular locking plate (24 patients) and 1/3 semi-tubular non-locking plate (26 patients). A radiographic assessment was performed after surgery to evaluate the time of bone union. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot functional score was measured after the surgery to evaluate the clinical outcomes. Results The two groups showed similar distributions in sex, age, height, body mass index, fracture pattern, and mean follow-up period. Complete bone union was obtained in all cases and the mean bone union time was 13.00±3.38 weeks in Group 1 and 12.92±3.26 weeks in Group 2 (p=0.87). The mean AOFAS score at 24 weeks was 95.66±2.86 in Group 1 and 95.84±2.79 in Group 2 (p=0.82). The mean AOFAS score at 48 weeks was 97.25±3.54 in Group 1 and 96.57±3.07 in Group 2 (p=0.47). Two cases of complications were observed in the non-locking plate group. Conclusion For the treatment of Lauge-Hansen SER type lateral malleolar fracture, internal fixation us-ing locking 1/3 semi-tubular plate and non-locking 1/3 semi-tubular plate are both favorable fixation methods.
PURPOSE The purpose of this article is to show the efficacy of a biodegradable plate for treating lateral malleolar fractures in the ankle joint. MATERIALS AND METHODS The 20 patients who underwent an open reduction and internal fixation for lateral malleolar fractures in the ankle joint from February, 2006 to February, 2007 in our hospital were enrolled into the study. The average age of the patients was 49.7 years and the average follow-up period was 5.6 months. The cases were analyzed by radiological bone union time and clinical results according to the criteria of Meyer et al. RESULTS Average radiological bone union time was 10.5 weeks. The clinical result was excellent in 19 cases (95%), good in 1 case (5%). There was one case of minimal displacement less than 1 mm, associated with anterior distal tibio-fibular ligament avulsion fracture. CONCLUSION For proper patients, a biodegradable plate is an effecttive alternative implant for stabilizing lateral malleolar fractures in the ankle joint, because there is no requirement for subsequent removal and slow resorption in vivo.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Delayed Foreign-body Reaction of Ankle Fracture Treated with a Biodegradable Plate and Screws - A Case Report - Chul-Hyun Park, Dae-Hyun Song, Jae Ho Cho Journal of the Korean Fracture Society.2012; 25(2): 142. CrossRef