A clinical evaluation of the effect of MRI scan to bring about a change in surgical management of elderly patients who present with hip fracture with no history of trauma or a suspicious looking lesion on x-rays. Many of these patients present with or without history of previous malignancy or bone disorder. We evaluated that if the delay in treatment within 36 hours as per national guide lines is justified to benefit patients. A clinical review of six hundred hip fracture patients where one hundred and four patients who had MRI scan of hip for fracture with either no history of trauma or a fracture with suspected pathological features with or without history of malignancy or bone disorder. The final outcome of hundred patients who had MRI scans 32 male and 68 female with median age of 65 years. Four patients were excluded as were unable to tolerate the MRI scan. Statistical analysis software SAS/STAT® was used to conduct data collation and analyses. A further radiological analysis of MRI scans with positive lesion to the plain X-rays to correlate the finding of a lesion on femoral side on MRI scan to a lesion on acetabular side. Out of hundred patients who had MRI scan for a suspected metastatic or pathological lesion only 12 showed a metastatic lesion despite the fact 31 had previous history of malignancy, CI 4.03; 101.91, P < 0.0003. No primary lesion detected in any patient. We also found if the acetabular side was not seen to be involved on pain x-ray, MRI scan did not detect any acetabular lesion, contingency coefficient 0.5632, P < .0001.Methods
Results
It is recommended that the ankle be held in dorsiflexion at the time of placement of syndesmosis screw. We assessed the validity of this recommendation. A two-part roentgenographic and computerised analysis of distal tibiofibular syndesmosis. The first part involved recruitment of 30 healthy adult volunteers. The second part involved 15 ankle fractures with syndesmotic injury requiring syndesmosis screw placement. In the first part individuals maximally dorsiflexed and plantarflexed their ankles in a specialised jig for standardisation. Mortice views were taken and intermalleolar distance measured. In the second part mortice views were taken in plantarflexion and dorsiflexion before and after the placement of syndesmosis screw in theatre. The intermalleolar distance was then measured.Introduction
Materials and methods
