A study of functional outcome of closed ankle fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation

Abstract

Background: Ankle fractures are one of the most common injuries of the lower limb 3 treated by orthopaedic surgeons, with an incidence of 107 fractures per 100000 person- years. 4 Up to 12% of emergency presentations involve an ankle injury. There has been an increase in the prevalence of ankle fractures over the past two decades both in the young, active patients and in the elderly [5, 6]. Injuries around the ankle joint cause destruction of not only the bony architecture, but also often the ligamentous and soft tissue components [7]. The anatomy of the joint makes it very unstable in cases of fractures or ligamentous injuries around the ankle. Open anatomic reduction and internal fixation are routinely advocated for displaced, unstable ankle fractures [10, 11, 12]. Functional and radiological results were analyzed using the ankle scoring system of Baird and Jackson [16]. The objective of this study is to analyse the patterns and causes of ankle fractures as well as to assess the functional outcome and results of surgically treated ankle fractures performed at our institution.