The Ankle Injury Management (AIM) trial was a pragmatic equivalence randomized controlled trial conducted at 24 hospitals in the United Kingdom that recruited 620 patients aged more than 60 years with an unstable ankle fracture. The trial compared the usual care pathway of early management with open reduction and internal fixation with initially attempting non-surgical management using close contact casting (CCC). CCC is a minimally padded cast applied by an orthopaedic surgeon after closed reduction in the operating theatre. The intervention groups had equivalent functional outcomes at six months and longer-term follow-up. However, potential barriers to using CCC as an initial form of treatment for these patients have been identified. In this report, the results of the AIM trial are summarized and the key issues are discussed in order to further the debate about the role of CCC. Evidence from the AIM trial supports surgeons considering conservative management by CCC as a treatment option for these patients. The longer-term follow-up emphasized that patients treated with CCC need careful monitoring in the weeks after its application to monitor maintenance of reduction. Cite this article:
The posterior malleolus of the ankle is the object
of increasing attention, with considerable enthusiasm for CT scanning
and surgical fixation, as expressed in a recent annotation in Cite this article:
The posterior malleolus component of a fracture
of the ankle is important, yet often overlooked. Pre-operative CT scans
to identify and classify the pattern of the fracture are not used
enough. Posterior malleolus fractures are not difficult to fix.
After reduction and fixation of the posterior malleolus, the articular
surface of the tibia is restored; the fibula is out to length; the
syndesmosis is more stable and the patient can rehabilitate faster.
There is therefore considerable merit in fixing most posterior malleolus
fractures. An early post-operative CT scan to ensure that accurate
reduction has been achieved should also be considered. Cite this article:
The results of the DRAFFT (distal radius acute
fracture fixation trial) study, which compared volar plating with
Kirschner (K-) wire fixation for dorsally displaced fractures of
the distal radius, were published in August 2014. The use of K-wires
to treat these fractures is now increasing, with a concomitant decline
in the use of volar locking plates. We provide a critical appraisal of the DRAFFT study and question
whether surgeons have been unduly influenced by its headline conclusions. Cite this article:
In this paper, we critically appraise the recent
publication of the United Kingdom Heel Fracture Trial, which concluded
that when patients with an absolute indication for surgery were
excluded, there was no advantage of surgical over non-surgical treatment
in the management of calcaneal fractures. We believe that selection bias in that study did not permit the
authors to reach a firm conclusion that surgery was not justified
for most intra-articular calcaneal fractures. Cite this article: