Heel displaced intra-articular fractures treated with mini-calcaneal external fixator.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of displaced heel fractures is controversial; however, ORIF is widely described in the literature to be the gold-standard. Percutaneous reduction and monolateral external fixation is gaining increasing attention because it provides a good and stable reduction, and minimises soft tissue complications due to open surgery, such as deep infections and delays in wound healing. The aim of this study was to show that the new Orthofix Calcaneal Minifixator (six pins) provides a greater stability than the four-pin version to enable a better and more stable reduction, an earlier weight-bearing (30 days) and improved functional outcomes. METHODS: A series of 69 consecutive closed heel intraarticular displaced fractures treated with the new Orthofix Calcaneal Minifixator were evaluated. Patients were assessed clinically with the Maryland Foot Score and radiologically with standard radiographs. RESULTS: The clinical results at follow-up were excellent in 37 cases (53.6%), good in 27 (39.2%), fair in two (2.9%) and poor in three (4.3%). The mean preoperative Böhler's angle was 5.2˚ (range 0-18˚) and the mean postoperative value was 28.5˚ (range 16-38˚). CONCLUSION: The excellent functional outcomes were despite some radiological images of imperfect posterior facet anatomical reduction and seemed to correlate with the use of a good and stable minimally-invasive surgical technique. This technique enabled early weight-bearing, minimised complications, respected the delicate biology of this anatomical site and restored the good heel volume and Böhler angle.

The treatment of infantile coxa vara with the external circular fixator.

Coxa vara worsens as it evolves, and is often accompanied by other femoral deformities, such as hypometria, axial knee deviations, and rotational deformity. Traditional surgical techniques, especially intracapsular femoral neck osteotomy, are difficult to execute and often cause joint stiffness while not sufficiently correcting the coxa vara or the other deformities, in particular hypometria. For these reasons this study used the external circular fixator to simultaneously correct these deformities. The results are presented after discussion of technical details.

Recurrent dislocation of the shoulder: twenty-five years experience with the Delitala method.

The authors report the clinical and radiographic results of 57 patients operated on for recurrent dislocation of the shoulder by the Delitala method. The age at operation ranged from 16 to 45 years. The follow-up was an average of 10 years (minimum 1, maximum 25 years) and the results were good or excellent in most of the cases. The failures included one case of recurrence and two of stiffness.