A Clinical Study of the Ankle Fracture

The ankle is a modified hinge joint consisting of tibial plafond, medial and lateral malleolus, talus and many soft tissue structures, which plays important role in weight bearing and walking. Hence, the ankle injuries include not only fractures of bone but often also the rupture of ligaments and soft tissues, so if the structures were not accurately repaired, many complications may develop. The authers analysed 98 cases (96 patients) of the ankle fractures which were admitted and treated in Orthopaedic Department, Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital from January 1979 to August 1983. The results obtained are as follows: 1. Of the 98 cases, male was 70 cases(71.9%), female was 28 cases and the average age of the patient was 31,1 years. 2. The most common cause of the fracture was traffic accident and the other causes were slip down, sports injury, fall down and industrial injuries in order. 3. 83 cases(84.7%) out of the 98 cases of ankle fractures were closed fracture and the rest was open fracture. 4. The most common type of the ankle fracture, according to the classification of Lauge-Hansen, was supination external rotation type. 5. 68 cases were treated with open reduction and internal fixation and 30 cases were treated with closed reduction, among the cases of closed reduction, the 14 cases were indicated to open redu- ction but it was impossible due to improper skin condition, severe comminution and anesthetic problem. 6. The average duration of the cast immobilization in closed treatment was 10.1 weeks and in operative treatment was 6.3 weeks. 7. The results of the treatment was better in those cases of the open reduction, the early reduction and the mildly displaced cases than the results of closed reduction, delayed reduction and severely displaced cases. 8. The incidence of complication, such as traumatic arthritis and nonunion occured higher in the cases treated with closed method.