Early stabilization has the potential to expedite early return to function and reduce hospital stay thus reducing cost to health care. A clinical audit was performed to test the hypothesis that early surgical stabilization lowers the rate of soft tissue complications and is not influenced by choice of distal fibular implants used for stabilization of ankle fractures. All surgically treated adult patients with isolated unstable ankle fracture were included from April 2012 to April 2013 at a MTC in UK. Patients with poly-trauma were excluded. All patients underwent a standard surgical protocol: aim for early definitive surgical fixation (ORIF) within 24 hours however if significantly swollen than temporary stabilization with an external fixation followed by a staged definitive fixation.Introduction:
Methods:
Minimally invasive chevron and akin osteotomy are being used in a few centres in the UK. The purpose of our study was to analyse our early results and present our early experience of minimally invasive chevron and akin osteotomy (MICA) for the correction of mild to moderate hallux valgus. This study assessed the radiological and clinical measurements, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scores, pain scores and patient satisfaction associated with performance of the MICA, for the treatment of hallux valgus. Between September 2010 and April 2012, 96 consecutive patients (122 feet) who underwent MICA were assessed. The overall satisfaction rate was over 90%. The mean total AOFAS score was 89.7 points. VAS for pain reduced from a mean of 7.4 to less than 1 point. On weight bearing anterior-posterior foot radiographs there was a significant improvement in the mean IMA and HVA. Complications included 2 episodes of superficial infection (1.6%), 1 fracture (0.8%), 4 incidence of nerve injury (3.3%) (Numbness) and 9 patients requiring removal of screw (7.4%). However, these screw removals occurred early on in the study and diminished after a slight modification in surgical technique. Based on our findings we concluded that MICA is an effective procedure with good patient satisfaction in the treatment of mild to moderate hallux valgus.
