Publication:

Is surgery the only option for unstable ankle fracture?

Background Ankle fracture is one of the most common injuries in sports and daily activity. Unstable ankle fracture that are displaced fracture of the lateral malleolus and most bimalleolar or trimalleolar fractures need surgical reduction and fixation.

Methods It is a single centre study in which all unstable ankle fracture above the age of 18 and not associated with any other injury were included in the study. Following fixation patients were followed up at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months and functional outcome was assessed with American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle score (AOFAS).

Results Supination external rotation injury was most common type. Mean AOFAS score at the end of six months was found to be best in supination adduction type. Posterior malleolus fixation with screw were found to have maximum AOFAS score.

Conclusions Surgical outcome in unstable ankle fracture are proved to have good functional outcome.