• J L Labbe, O Peres, O Leclair, R Goulon, P Scemama, and F Jourdel.
• Service de chirurgie orthopédique, centre hospitalier territorial de Nouméa, BP J5, Noumea, New Caledonia. Electronic address: jl.labbe@cht.nc.
• Orthop Traumatol Sur. 2013 Nov 1;99(7):829-36.

BackgroundThe balloon kyphoplasty approach to the treatment of vertebral fractures can be adapted to achieve the reduction and cement stabilisation of intra-articular compression fractures at other sites, such as the calcaneus.Patients And MethodWe studied six patients with a median follow-up of 12 months (range, 6-30 months). Fluoroscopy guidance was used to obtain optimal balloon positioning under the joint depression site. Reduction was achieved by expanding the balloon and stabilisation by injecting the cavity with resorbable tricalcium-phosphate cement in the younger patients and polymethyl-metacrylate cement in the two elderly patients with osteoporosis. No internal fixation was used.ResultsNo intra-operative, postoperative, or delayed complications were recorded. Median hospital stay length was 4.5 days (range, 3-7 days). All the fractures healed within the usual timeframe, without loss of reduction. Median time to full weight-bearing ambulation was 52.5 days (range, 15-75 days). The functional outcomes correlated with the good anatomic results, with a median American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society score of 87.0 (range, 86-97).DiscussionThis preliminary study shows that balloon reduction and cement fixation of intra-articular calcaneal fractures is easy to perform, reproducible, and devoid of specific complications. Good-quality reduction and stabilisation until fracture healing were achieved, and time to recovery of self-sufficiency was short, even in elderly patients with osteoporosis. These results support the use of this minimally invasive technique.Level Of EvidenceLevel IV, retrospective study.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

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