Ottawa ankle rules originally described in 1992 have been shown to improve the pick-up rates of ankle fractures and avoid the need for unnecessary X-rays, thus minimising cost and radiation to the patient. We decided to carry out an audit at our hospital to look at the pick-up rates of ankle fractures and ways to minimise x-rays for the patient both in A&E and in the orthopaedic department. Ankle x-rays of 1088 trauma patients over a 7 month period from Dec 2009 to June 2010 (inclusive) were reviewed. Patients with ankle fractures were classified according to Weber type, and whether they were treated surgically or non-operatively. Non-operatively treated ankle fractures then formed the main sub-group of our study, looking at the number of follow-up X-rays and the amount of subsequent displacement. The amount of displacement was classified into non-displaced (0 mm), minimally displaced (<2mm) and displaced (>2 mm).Introduction
Methods
