Taylor Spatial Frame or Reamed Intramedullary Nailing for Closed Fractures of the Tibial Shaft: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: To compare a modern ring fixator [Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF)] and reamed intramedullary nailing (IMN) for the treatment of closed tibial shaft fractures. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Two university hospitals. PATIENTS: Patients between 18 and 70 years of age surgically treated for an acute tibial shaft fracture. INTERVENTION: TSF (n = 31) versus a reamed intramedullary nail (n = 32). The patients were followed up for 2 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The physical component summary of Short Form 36 (SF-36) at 2 years was the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes included the other components of the SF-36, pain assessed by a visual analogue scale (VAS), complications, and resource consumption. RESULTS: The mean age was 43 years (SD 14.0), and 42 (67%) were men. The physical component summary at 2 years was 52.4 (SD 6.3) in the TSF group and 53.3 (SD 8.0) in the IMN group (P = 0.35). There were modest differences in the other SF-36 scores during the follow-up period. Up to and including 12 months, the TSF group had less knee pain [at 12 months: VAS 0.5 (SD 1.2) vs. VAS 2.4 (SD 2.2; P < 0.001)], but this was not statistically significant at 24 months [VAS 0.7 (SD 1.4) vs. VAS 1.5 (SD 2.0; P = 0.11)]. Superficial skin infections were more frequent in the TSF group [22 (71%) vs. 4 (13%); P < 0.001]. The number of other complications was similar between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Both TSF and IMN provided good clinical results. TSF had more pin-track infections but less knee pain the first year. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Importance of Syndesmotic Reduction on Clinical Outcome After Syndesmosis Injuries.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship between syndesmosis reduction and outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: One Level 1 and 1 Level 3 Trauma Center. PATIENTS: Ninety-seven patients with syndesmosis injury. INTERVENTION: Stabilization of syndesmosis injury. Open reduction and internal fixation of malleolar fracture, if present. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Anterior, central, and posterior measures of syndesmosis width on computed tomography scans, Olerud-Molander Ankle score, American Orthopaedic Foot and American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot score, and range of motion measurements. RESULTS: Eighty-seven patients completed 2 years of follow-up. The difference in anterior tibiofibular distance (aTFD) between the injured and noninjured ankle postoperatively had a significant effect on the Olerud-Molander Ankle score after 6 weeks [b = -2.6, 95% confidence interval (CI), -4.8 to -0.4; P = 0.02], 1 year (b = -2.7, 95% CI, -4.7 to -0.8; P < 0.001), and 2 years (b = -2.6, 95% CI, -4.6 to -0.6; P = 0.009) and on American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot score after 6 weeks (b = -2.2, 95% CI, -3.7 to -0.7; P = 0.004), 1 year (b = -1.7, 95% CI, -3.0 to -0.4; P = 0.04), and 2 years (b = -1.9, 95% CI, -3.2 to -0.5; P = 0.006). The effect of computed tomography measurements on range of motion was inconsistent. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated that aTFD had adequate discriminatory performance (area under the ROC curve ≥ 0.7) 1 and 2 years after surgery and the central measurement at only 2 years after surgery. ROC analyses indicate a cutoff value for syndesmosis malreduction of 2 mm. The postoperative rate of malreduction was 32%. CONCLUSIONS: The aTFD correlated with clinical outcome. A 2-mm difference in aTFD seems to predict poorer clinical outcome. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.