Injury
-
Observational Study
Patient reported health related quality of life early outcomes at 12 months after surgically managed tibial plafond fracture.
Tibial plafond fractures represent a small but complex subset of fractures of the lower limb. The aim of this study was to describe the health related quality of life, pain and return to work outcomes 12 months following surgically managed tibial plafond fracture. ⋯ The presence of persistent pain, loss of physical health and a low return to work rate highlights the profound impact of tibial plafond fractures on patients' lives. Although this study looked at the early 12 month results, it is expected these outcomes will continue to improve over time. Further studies, with larger patient numbers, must focus on how to improve not only the operative management of these fractures, but also patient's mental and overall physical health in the long term. Improved management techniques and early identification of injury patterns known to perform poorly may help long-term outcomes.
-
The ability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to complement conventional MR imaging by diagnosing subtle injuries to the spinal cord is a subject of intense research. We attempted to study change in the DTI indices, namely fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) after traumatic cervical spinal cord injury and compared these with corresponding data from a control group of individuals with no injury. The correlation of these quantitative indices to the neurological profile of the patients was assessed. ⋯ Quantitative DTI indices are a useful parameter for detection of spinal cord injury. FA value was significantly decreased while MD value was significantly increased at the level of injury in cases as compared to controls. Further, FA showed significant correlation with clinical grade. DTI could thus serve as a reliable objective imaging tool for assessment of white matter integrity and prognostication of functional outcome.
-
The purpose of this study is to investigate the presence or absence, incidence, and degree of extensor pollicis longus (EPL) tendon injury by visual confirmation of the EPL at the time of osteosynthesis for distal radius fractures. ⋯ This study showed a high incidence of EPL tendon injury at the time of distal radius fractures (88%). To improve the ambient environment of the damaged tendon may be useful in terms of the prevention of tendon injury.
-
Malalignment of syndesmosis is generally associated with a poor outcome, yet occurs at a high rate in malleolar ankle fractures. In this study, we examine whether malreduction of syndesmosis injury associated with malleolar ankle fracture can be avoided using Weber's three indexes in the mortise view. ⋯ The results of our study show that malreduction of syndesmosis can be avoided by careful interpretation of intraoperative perspective mortise views based on Weber's three indexes. To increase the diagnostic accuracy further, it is important to detect anteroposterior deviation of the fibula in intraoperative lateral views.
-
Comparative Study
Finite element analysis of the three different posterior malleolus fixation strategies in relation to different fracture sizes.
Appropriate fixation method for the posterior malleolar fractures (PMF) according to the fracture size is still not clear. Aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of the different fixation methods used for fixation of PMF by finite element analysis (FEA) and to compare the effect of fixation constructs on the size of the fracture computationally. ⋯ Progressively increasing fracture size demands more stable fixation construct because RD increases significantly. Posterior buttress plate produces superior stability and lowest RD in PMF models irrespective of the fragment size.