RESUMO
Objective To compare cortical bone screwing and Endobutton plating for the treatment of ankle joint fracture complicated with injury to the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis. Methods Fifty-eight pa-tients with ankle joint fracture and injury to the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis were treated at Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital to Guangdong Medical University from January 2014 to June 2016. Half of them were treated by conventional cortical bone screwing. They were 16 males and 13 females with an average age of 43.2 ± 4.1 years. The other half were treated by Endobutton plating. They were 15 males and 14 females with an average age of 44.1 ± 3.9 years. The 2 groups were compared in terms of intraoperative bleed-ing, operation time, tibiofibular clear space ( TBCS ) , tibiofibular overlap ( TBOL ) , the American Orthopedic Foot Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot scale and complications. Results The cortical bone screwing group needed significantly shorter operation time (63.4 ± 5.4 min) than the plating group (89.6 ± 6.2 min) ( P ＜0.05) . There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in intraoperative bleeding ( 68.9 ± 6.3 mL versus 67.4 ± 6.4 mL ) , TBCS ( 4.6 ± 0.3 mm versus 4.7 ± 0.3 mm) , TBOL ( 7.5 ± 0.4 mm versus 7.4 ± 0.4 mm ) , good to excellent rate by AOFAS score ( 72.4% versus 75.9%) , or rate of complications ( 6.9% versus 10.3%) ( P ＞ 0.05 ). Conclusion Since cortical bone screwing and Endobutton plating show no signifi-cant difference for the treatment of ankle joint fracture complicated with distal tibiofibular syndesmosis injury, a proper surgical procedure should be decided according to the specific conditions of the patient.