Citation

DeCoster TA, Willis MC, Marsh JL, Williams TM, Nepola JV, Dirschl DR, Hurwitz SR. Foot Ankle Int. 1999; 20(1): 44-49.

Affiliation

University of New Mexico Medical Center, Department of Orthopedics, Albuquerque 87131-5296, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9921773

Abstract

We investigated the effects of severity of initial injury pattern and the quality of the articular reduction on outcome of displaced intra-articular distal tibial fractures, using a series of 25 patients who were treated with articulated external fixation and limited internal fixation, which provided a spectrum of reduction quality. Outcome was assessed by clinical ankle scores and radiographic arthrosis. The results demonstrate the rank order method to be a reliable means of stratifying severity of injury and quality of reduction. Neither injury nor reduction correlated with clinical ankle score. Reduction had a significant correlation with radiographic arthrosis. We conclude that the rank order method is useful in stratification of fracture patients, and that factors other than injury pattern and quality of articular reduction are important in determining outcome of patients with this severe articular injury.

Language: en