Clinical outcome of lateral malleolar's anatomical hook-plate for unstable distal fibular fracture / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical outcome of lateral malleolar's anatomical hook-plate in treating ankle fracture including distal fibular fracture. Methods Nineteen patients of ankle fracture including distal fibular fracture were treated from January 2006 to January 2009. There were 12 males and 7 females with an average age of 36 years (range, 18-72 years). The fractures were classified by Danis-Weber system. There were A type in 8 cases, B type in 11 cases. The average time of duration between injury and operation was 6 days (ranged from 6 hours to 16 days). The distal fibular fracture were treated with lateral malleolar's anatomical hook-plate. The medial malleolus was fixed with cancellous bone screw. The posterior malleolus was fixed with screw or plate according to the pattern of fracture. Results The mean follow-up period was 18.8 months with a range from 6 to 32 months. No obvious fracture line could be seen on the radiographs 4-6 weeks after operation. Bone healing was achieved in 10 cases 12 weeks after operation and in 9 cases 20 weeks after operation. All surgical incisions healed adequately. There were no instances of infection, instability of ankle and other complications. According to Mazur ankle joint scoring scale system, the fiual result was scored from 67 to 92 (average 86.3). There were excellent in 12 cases, good in 4, fair in 2,and poor in 1 case. The excellent and good rate was 84.2%. Conclusion The lateral malleolar's anatomical hook-plate represents a definite biomechanical superiority in treating fracture of the external malleolus, with advantage of restoring anatomic structure, joint activity effectively and firm fixation.