Injury
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If a syndesmosis injury is not detected, or not treated appropriately, it can lead to pain and arthritis. Various techniques have been described to look for the presence of a syndemosis injury. If concern is raised regarding malreduction, the most recognised way of checking accuracy of the reduction (of the fibula into the incisura) is bilateral postoperative ankle CT scans. This not only exposes the patient to further radiation, but can normally only be done once the surgery is completed and so if adjustment is needed, this requires a further operation, encompassing further surgical risks. We developed a simple assessment, which both gives accurate intra-operative demonstration of an injury to the syndesmosis and also can check how well the fibula has been reduced (if required), without the need for further radiological investigation or surgical intervention. The objectives were to test how easy it was to perform the test and apply it to a number of different ankle fractures. ⋯ It has proved to be an easy and reliable adjunct to ankle fixation surgery and may have further indications.
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The purpose of this study was to compare the results of pedobarographic gait analysis between the patients treated by proximal femoral nail or bipolar partial hemiarthroplasty due to intertrochanteric fractures. ⋯ Assessment of pedobarographic parameters can be another way of measuring the results of treatment in intertrochanteric fractures. Uninjured limbs of patients expose much more loading than operated limbs in postoperative static evaluation for both treatment options. However in dynamic evaluation, there is a better concordance of gait analysis between both limbs in patients operated by proximal femoral nail.
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The surgical management of atypical femoral fractures (AFFs) is complex in cases with severe bowing of the femur, being associated with a high rate of failure. Our first aim was to use preoperative templating and 3D printed model characterise the technical difficulties associated with use of current commercially available intramedullary nail (IMN) systems for the management of AFFs with severe bowing. Our second aim was to use outcomes of our 3D printing analysis to define technical criteria to overcome these problems. ⋯ Commercially available IMN systems showed mismatch with severely bowed femurs. Our simulation supports that fit of these systems can be improved using an IMN system with a small radius of curvature and diameter, and by applying specific operative procedures.