The curative effect of suture anchor in the treatment of ankle joint fracture with distal tibiofibular syndesmosis injury / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the curative effect of suture anchor in the treatment of ankle joint fracture complicated with distal tibiofibular syndesmosis injury.Methods:From January 2017 to August 2019, data of 65 patients with Weber C type ankle fracture combined with posterior malleolus fracture in our hospital who underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively analyzed and were divided into two groups according to the treatment method of injury suture-anchor repair group (suture-anchor was used to repair the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament) and screw fixation group (cortical bone screw was used to fix the tibiofibular syndesmosis). Among them, 17 cases were treated with suture-anchors to repair the anterior inferior tibiafibular ligament, including 7 males, 10 females, 11 left and 6 right. In the Lauge-Hanson subgroup, there were 10 cases of pronation external rotation (PER), and 7 cases of pronation abduction (PA). The mean age was 43.76±15.83 years old. Forty-eight patients were treated with cortical screw fixation, including 33 males, 15 females, 34 left and 14 right. In the Lauge-Hanson subgroup, there were 30 cases of PER, and 18 cases of PA. The mean age was 39.90±13.57 years old. The differences in operation time, number of fluoroscopy, quality of reduction and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. The ankle joint function was compared at 16 weeks postoperatively and at the last follow-up. The ankle joint function score was based on the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot score.Results:All the 65 patients were followed up and the average follow-up time of 65 cases was 16.88±4.46 months. All the fractures were clinically healed 12-16 weeks after operation. The operative time of screw fixation group was 123.71±41.36 min, and the number of fluoroscopy was 25.17±16.29 times, while the operative time of suture-anchor repair group was 99.94±24.16 min and the number of fluoroscopy was 16.26±10.58 times. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( t=2.048, 2.175; P=0.045, 0.033). In the screw fixation group, the mean anterior and posterior distance of the tibiofibular syndesmosis was 3.15±1.35 mm, and 6.48±1.43 mm, respectively. In the suture-anchor repair group, the mean anterior distance of the syndesmosis was 2.06±1.47 mm, and the mean posterior distance of the syndesmosis was 6.76±1.78 mm. There was statistically significant difference in the distance of anterior distance of the syndesmosis ( t=3.328, P=0.002), while there was no statistically significant difference in the posterior distance of the syndesmosis ( t=0.701, P=0.486). The incidence of postoperative complications was 16.67% (8/48) in the screw fixation group and 5.88% (1/17) in the suture-anchor repair group, which was no statistically different ( χ2=1.282, P=0.258). The excellent and good rates of AOFAS ankle-hindfoot scores were 91.67% (44/48) in the screw fixation group and 88.24% (15/17) in the suture-anchor repair group at 16 weeks; 95.83% (46/48) in the screw fixation group and 94.12% (16/17) in the suture-anchor repair group at the last follow-up. There was no significant difference ( P >0.05). Conclusion:Compare with screw fixation in the treatment of acute distal tibiofibular syndesmosis injury, suture-anchor repair of anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament is a safe and effective method. It can increase the anatomical reduction rate of anterior distance of the syndesmosis, and reduce the operation time without increasing the incidence of complications.