Recent advancements in diagnostics and treatment of subtle syndesmotic injury / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Patients with subtle syndesmotic injury, without fracture, have the symptoms similar to lateral ankle ligament injury, thus, leading to diagnostic error and misdiagnosis. Improper treatment often causes chronic pain and dysfunction, accelerating ankle degeneration. The diagnosis of subtle syndesmotic injury demands synthesis of examination results, among which arthroscopy is the gold standard. The treatment of subtle syndesmotic injury depends on the course of injury conservative treatment, syndesmosis screw, button plate, elastic syndesmosis hook plate and mixed fixation are performed in acute injury. Arthroscopic debridement, syndesmosis fusion and ligament reconstruction are performed in chronic ones. In subacute ones, treatment is controversial. Early diagnosis and treatment of subtle syndesmotic injury play an important role in its prognosis. This article will review the recent advancements in diagnostics and treatment of subtle syndesmotic injury.