Aims. Paediatric triplane fractures and adult trimalleolar ankle fractures both arise from a supination external rotation injury. By relating the experience of adult to paediatric fractures, clarification has been sought on the sequence of injury, ligament involvement, and fracture pattern of triplane fractures. This study explores the similarities between triplane and trimalleolar fractures for each stage of the Lauge-Hansen classification, with the aim of aiding reduction and fixation techniques. Methods. Imaging data of 83 paediatric patients with triplane fractures and 100 adult patients with trimalleolar fractures were collected, and their fracture morphology was compared using fracture maps. Visual fracture maps were assessed, classified, and compared with each other, to establish the progression of injury according to the Lauge-Hansen classification. Results. Four stages of injury in triplane fractures, resembling the adult supination external rotation Lauge-Hansen stages, were observed. Stage I consists of rupture of the anterior syndesmosis or small avulsion of the anterolateral tibia in trimalleolar fractures, and the avulsion of a larger Tillaux fragment in triplanes. Stage II is defined as oblique fracturing of the fibula at the level of the syndesmosis, present in all trimalleolar fractures and in 30% (25/83) of triplane fractures. Stage III is the fracturing of the posterior malleolus. In trimalleolar fractures, the different Haraguchi types can be discerned. In triplane fractures, the delineation of the posterior fragment has a wave-like shape, which is part of the characteristic Y-pattern of triplane fractures, originating from the Tillaux fragment. Stage IV represents a fracture of the medial malleolus, which is highly variable in both the trimalleolar and triplane fractures. Conclusion. The paediatric triplane and adult trimalleolar fractures share common features according to the Lauge-Hansen classification. This highlights that the adolescent injury arises from a combination of ligament traction and a growth plate in the process of closing. With this knowledge, a specific sequence of reduction and optimal screw positions are recommended. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2024;106-B(9):1008–1014

Aims. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to assess and investigate the safety and efficacy of using a distal tibial osteotomy compared to proximal osteotomy for limb lengthening in children. Methods. In this study, there were 59 consecutive tibial lengthening and deformity corrections in 57 children using a circular frame. All were performed or supervised by the senior author between January 2013 and June 2019. A total of 25 who underwent a distal tibial osteotomy were analyzed and compared to a group of 34 who had a standard proximal tibial osteotomy. For each patient, the primary diagnosis, time in frame, complications, and lengthening achieved were recorded. From these data, the frame index was calculated (days/cm) and analyzed. Results. All patients ended their treatment with successful lengthening and deformity correction. The frame index for proximal versus distal osteotomies showed no significant difference, with a mean 48.5 days/cm (30 to 85) and 48.9 days/cm (28 to 81), respectively (p = 0.896). In the proximal osteotomy group, two patients suffered complications (one refracture after frame removal and one failure of regenerate maturation with subsequent valgus deformity) compared to zero in the distal osteotomy group. Two patients in each group sustained obstacles that required intervention (one necessitated guided growth, one fibula lengthening, and two required change of wires). There was a similar number of problems (pin-site infections) in each group. Conclusion. Our data show that distal tibial osteotomies can be safely employed in limb lengthening for children using a circular frame, which has implications in planning a surgical strategy; for example, when treating a tibia with shortening and distal deformity, a second osteotomy for proximal lengthening is not required. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2022;104-B(11):1273–1278

We report a variant of tibial hemimelia in a six-year-old boy that did not comply with recognised classification systems. The femur and knee were normal, but the fibula was displaced proximally and there was severe diastasis of the proximal and distal tibiofibular joints to the extent that a grossly deformed foot articulated with the fibula and there was separate soft-tissue cover for the distal tibia and fibula. Although it would have been preferable to create a one-bone leg, amputate the foot and use the fibula as the stump for a below-knee prosthesis, local circumstances resulted in the choice of a disarticulation through the knee. This was undertaken without complications, and six months post-operatively the child was walking comfortably with a prosthesis

1. A hope expressed in 1940, that further cases of spontaneous fracture of the lowest third of the apparently normal fibula would be described, has been fulfilled. The literature is here reviewed. Five further personal cases are added. 2. The clinical and radiographic features, diagnosis, treatment and results are considered in the light of the information so far available. Special note is made of misleading freedom of ankle and tarsal movements and the occasional absence of tenderness. 3. It is established that fractures of the lowest third occur particularly in two groups of subjects: 1) young male runners and skaters; 2) active and hard-pressed women of middle age and over. 4. In male runners and skaters the fracture usually occurs through slender, mainly cortical bone, two inches or more above the tip of the lateral malleolus; in middle-aged women the fracture is usually distal to the interosseous ligament through thicker, mainly cancellous bone, one and a half inches from the tip of the lateral malleolus. 5. The most convenient name for both groups of fractures in the lowest third is low fatigue fracture of the fibula. 6. A review of the literature of fatigue fracture of the uppermost third of the fibula shows that it is very often precipitated by jumping. The most convenient name for it is high fatigue fracture of the fibula. 7. Like all clinical classifications this distinction between low and high fractures has exceptions (a low fracture of one fibula in a runner was followed later by a high fracture of the other; most military fractures were high, but a few may have occurred at other levels). 8. Fatigue fracture of the fibula, high or low, may be bilateral. 9. A fracture similarly situated to the high fatigue fracture of the fibula has been frequent in parachute schools. It is a speculative possibility that military and parachutist fractures of the upper third of the fibula indicate the link between true fatigue fractures (as exemplified by march fractures with minimal trauma often repeated) and purely traumatic fractures (with adequate trauma applied once only)

It has been suggested that a supramalleolar osteotomy can return the load distribution in the ankle joint to normal. However, due to the lack of biomechanical data, this supposition remains empirical. The purpose of this biomechanical study was to determine the effect of simulated supramalleolar varus and valgus alignment on the tibiotalar joint pressure, in order to investigate its relationship to the development of osteoarthritis. We also wished to establish the rationale behind corrective osteotomy of the distal tibia. We studied 17 cadaveric lower legs and quantified the changes in pressure and force transfer across the tibiotalar joint for various degrees of varus and valgus deformity in the supramalleolar area. We assumed that a supramalleolar osteotomy which created a varus deformity of the ankle would result in medial overload of the tibiotalar joint. Similarly, we thought that creating a supramalleolar valgus deformity would cause a shift in contact towards the lateral side of the tibiotalar joint. The opposite was observed. The restricting role of the fibula was revealed by carrying out an osteotomy directly above the syndesmosis. In end-stage ankle osteoarthritis with either a valgus or varus deformity, the role of the fibula should be appreciated and its effect addressed where appropriate

We describe a schwannoma located in the mid-diaphyseal region of the fibula of a 14-year-old boy. Radiologically this was an expansile, lytic, globular and trabeculated lesion. MRI showed a narrow transition zone with a break in the cortex and adjacent tissue oedema. Differential diagnosis included schwannoma, fibrous dysplasia, giant cell tumour and aneurysmal bone cyst. The tumour was excised en bloc, with marginal resection limits, and there has been no recurrence two years after surgery. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of classic schwannoma. There were typical hypercellular Antoni A zones, less cellular Antoni B zones, and diffuse immunoreactivity to S100 protein. This is the first report of schwannoma involving a long bone in a child

We present two children with massive defects of the tibia and an associated active infection who were treated by medial transport of the fibula using the Ilizarov device. The first child had chronic discharging osteomyelitis which affected the whole tibial shaft. The second had sustained bilateral grade-IIIB open tibial fractures in a motor-car accident. The first child was followed up for three years and the second for two years. Both achieved solid union between the proximal and distal stumps of the tibia and the fibula, with hypertrophy of the fibula. The first child had a normal range of movement at the knee, ankle and foot but there was shortening of 1.5 cm. The second had persistent anterior angulation at the proximal tibiofibular junction and the ankle was stiff in equinus

Ninety-seven limbs, in eighty-one patients, with a diagnosis of congenital deficiency of the fibula have been reviewed. A classification was devised to distinguish the minimal hypoplasia of the fibula (Type I) from the well-known complete absence (Type II). Congenital anomalies of the femur were present in 76 per cent of patients with Type I deficiency and in 59 per cent with Type II. The shortening of the limb was by 13 per cent in Type I and by 19 per cent in Type II, and the percentage shortening was fairly constant during growth. A detailed description of the spectrum of other congenital anomalies was found to be characteristic: for example, the ball and socket formation of the ankle, tarsal coalition and anomalies of the foot. The treatment aimed simply to equalise leg length in Type I deficiency, while amputation of the foot and the fitting of a prosthesis were necessary in Type II to obtain satisfactory function

1 . Dislocation of the upper end of the fibula is probably less unusual than the paucity of the published reports suggests. 2. Dislocation may be anterior or posterior, anterior dislocation occurring about twice as often as posterior. Rarely the fibula moves proximally. 3. In most cases a closed manipulation suffices for reduction, and a full and rapid return of normal function follows. 4. Five cases are described. In one case operative reduction was required

We have carried out prosthetic reconstruction in six patients with malignant or aggressively benign bone tumours of the distal tibia or fibula. The diagnoses were osteosarcoma in four patients, parosteal osteosarcoma in one and recurrent giant-cell tumour in one. Five tumours were in the distal tibia and one in the distal fibula. The mean duration of follow-up was 5.3 years (2.0 to 7.1). Reconstruction was achieved using custom-made, hinged prostheses which replaced the distal tibia and the ankle. The mean range of ankle movement after operation was 31° and the joints were stable. The average functional score according to the system of the International Society of Limb Salvage was 24.2 and five of the patients had a good outcome. Complications occurred in two with wound infection and talar collapse. All patients were free from neoplastic disease at the latest follow-up. Prosthetic reconstruction may be used for the treatment of malignant tumours of the distal tibia and fibula in selected patients

Ten adults were studied two to seven years after resection of a fibula for use as a free vascularised bone graft. Six had no symptoms in the donor leg, four had some aching, weakness or paraesthesia and three had definite weakness of the long toe flexors and extensors. All knees and ankles were clinically and radiologically stable, but the distal fibular remnant was osteoporotic in nine patients. Gait analysis of the donor leg and the contralateral normal leg showed definite differences, which could be attributed to weakness of the deep muscles caused by loss of their normal origin and to the change in load transmission through the fibula

We report four patients with unilateral bowing of the lower leg, affecting only the fibula. The bone is too long with anterolateral curvature of the distal third. Because of its regressive course and the absence of cutaneous involvement, this newly described entity can be distinguished from other forms of bowing of the leg

The upper three-quarters of the fibula is commonly used as a non-vascularised autograft. Subsequent to this isolated weakness of extensor hallucis longus may occur. We have studied 26 patients in whom the upper and middle thirds of the fibula had been harvested as a graft through Henry’s posterolateral approach. Isolated weakness of extensor hallucis longus was found after operation in ten patients but not in the remainder. EMG and nerve-conduction studies confirmed injury of the nerve to extensor hallucis longus in those with weakness. We dissected 40 cadaver limbs and found that those in which the nerve to extensor hallucis longus ran close to the fibular periosteum were at risk. The injury is mostly incomplete and recovery occurs within four to six months

1. An account is given of fifty stress fractures of the fibula which occurred in athletes. 2. The characteristic symptoms, signs and radiological appearances are described, with details of treatment and prognosis. 3. The mechanism of the injury has been suggested on clinical grounds and supported by experimental methods

A high stress fracture of the fibula which occurred in 48 out of a class of 120 recruits doing a difficult jumping exercise is described. No more were seen when the exercise was stopped. The importance of this report is that it confirms the theory that different muscular activities cause different stress fractures

1. The cases of four children who presented with bowing or pseudarthrosis of the fibula only, are described. 2. There is a gradation in the severity and significance of this condition. There may be fibular bowing without fibular pseudarthrosis; fibular pseudarthrosis without ankle deformity; fibular pseudarthrosis with deformity but without the late development of tibial pseudarthrosis; or fibular pseudarthrosis with the late development of tibial pseudarthrosis. 3. Proper management is dependent on a knowledge of this range of conditions

An alternative to Syme's amputation for congenital absence of the fibula is described in this paper. Nine children have had the ankle reconstructed using the Gruca technique with a very satisfactory result in eight. This procedure is not suitable for every patient and in most unilateral cases the operation can only be regarded as an interim procedure because of progressive leg-length inequality. The decision to remove the foot may be delayed and it allows childhood to be spent without resort to prostheses. However, the procedure can be considered as the definitive operation in cases of bilateral deformity

We report eight patients with prominent cystic changes in the head of the fibula. Seven of these had osteoarthritis of the adjacent knee, and five had evidence of local deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals. A radiographic survey of 470 knees in 254 patients with osteoarthritis suggested that such cysts are rare, but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of such changes before expensive or invasive investigations are performed

We describe a technique of lengthening osteotomy of the fibula for the late treatment of symptomatic malaligned or malunited fractures of the ankle. Good results at two to three years were achieved in five of six cases despite delays of up to four years from the original injury. The method can prevent progressive instability and degenerative arthritis

Failure of union of the tibia with a large defect is difficult to treat, especially in the presence of sepsis and adherent scars. Conventional methods of fixation and bone grafting are not easily applicable. Experiments on Macaca monkeys showed that a vascularised pedicle graft of the shaft of the ipsilateral fibula could be fixed across a defect in the tibia and remain viable, even if it was isolated from surrounding soft tissues. Transfer of part of the shaft of the ipsilateral fibula on a vascular and muscle pedicle was carried out in 11 patients with large tibial defects and sepsis. There was one failure because of severe infection, but the other 10 patients gained sound union in about four months. The tibia was then protected by a caliper for the 18 months of full reconstitution. The bone infection healed and there was no evidence of avascular necrosis. Although the salvaged limbs were scarred, stiff and ugly, none of the patients suffered from pain, recurrent oedema or persistent infection