• Piotr Morasiewicz, Maciej Dejnek, Wiktor Urbański, Szymon Łukasz Dragan, Mirosław Kulej, and Szymon Feliks Dragan.
• Wrocław Medical University, Department and Clinic of Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Surgery, Borowska 213, 50-556 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: morasp@poczta.onet.pl.
• Injury. 2017 Jul 1; 48 (7): 1678-1683.

IntroductionWe asked whether the type of ankle joint arthrodesis stabilization will affect: (1) rate of union, (2) rate of adjacted-joint arthritis, (3) malalignment of the ankle joint.Material And MethodsWe retrospectively radiological studied 62 patients who underwent ankle arthrodesis with Ilizarov external fixator stabilization (group 1,n=29) or internal stabilization (group 2,n=33) from 2006 to 2015. Radiologic outcomes were mesure by: (1) rate of union, (2) rate of adjacent-joint arthritis, (3) malalignment of the ankle joint. The Levene's test,Mann-Whitney U test and Students t-test were used to the statistical analyses.ResultsAnkle fusion was achieved in 100% of patients treated with external fixation and in 88% with internal stabilization. Desired frontal plane alignment was achieved in 100% of patients with external fixation and 76% with internal stabilization. Desired sagittal plane alignment was achieved in 100% of external fixation and 85% of internal stabilization. A total of 14 (48.3%) patients from group 1 showed a radiographic evidence of pre-existing adjacent-joint OA. The radiographic evidence of pre-existing adjacent-joint OA was also found in 27(81.8%) subjects from group 2. Alterations of adjacent joints were also found on postoperative radiograms of 19 (65.5%) patients subjected to Ilizarov fixation and in all 33 patients from group 2.DiscusionIlizarov fixation of ankle arthrodesis is associated with lower prevalence of adjacent-joint OA and ankle joint misalignment,and with higher fusion rates than after internal fixation.Although achieving a complex ankle fusion is generally challenging,radiological outcomes after fixation with the Ilizarov apparatus are better than after internal stabilization.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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