Osteoarthritis in the foot and ankle affects approximately 30,000 patients annually in the UK. Evidence has shown that excess weight exacerbates foot pain, with significant increases in joint forces. However, despite the current trend for Clinical Commissioning Groups to ration surgery for obese patients, studies have not yet determined the effect of weight loss in obese patients with foot and ankle arthritis. Pilot study to investigate the effect of simulated weight loss on pain scores in obese patients with symptomatic foot and ankle arthritis.Introduction
Aim
Injury to the syndesmosis is not always clearly demonstrated on radiographs and different tests have been described to assess for injury. In the presence of a significant injury to the syndesmosis, surgical fixation is often indicated and various fixation methods have been described. If the result of surgery is any mal-reduction of the fibula, this may result in ongoing ankle pain. Assessing how well the fibula has been reduced intra-operatively is currently limited to image intensifier views. We have previously developed a simple assessment, which has been shown to give accurate intra-operative demonstration of an injury to the syndesmosis. Our objective was to ascertain if the same test could demonstrate any malreduction of the fibular after repair of a syndesmosis injury. Seven fresh frozen cadavers had complete sydesmosis disruption performed before fixation using a well-recognised technique with a single 3.5 mm small fragment screw. Purposeful malreduction was performed in three ankles and standard reduction in the remaining four. 2–5mls of contrast medium was then injected into the ankle joint.Introduction
Methods
