Manual Reduction and Plaster External Fixation for the Treatment of Closed Total Talus Dislocation: Case Report and Literature Review

BACKGROUND: Total dislocation of the talus from all its surrounding joints (talonavicular, tibiotalar, subtalar) is one kind of serious injury of the lower extremity with rare occurrence. It is usually accompanied by fractures of the talus and its periphery, as well as severe soft tissue injury, which is difficult to reset. Complications such as skin necrosis and infection are prone to occur in the early stage, and talus necrosis are prone to occur in the late stage, all of which aggravate disease severity and increase difficulties for its treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: Herein, we reported a case of right talus total dislocation accompanied by medial malleolus fracture and posterior tubercle fracture caused by traffic accident. One hour after injury, the doctor tried to perform manual reduction but failed. Then, we successfully performed manual reduction and plaster external fixation on this patient under anesthesia 6 h after injury, followed by the oral administration of Chinese medicine for 3 months. Twenty months of follow‐up investigations revealed that no skin necrosis, talus dislocation, talus necrosis, or other complications occurred; no obvious joint degeneration was observed and the fractures of medial malleolus and talus healed well. MRI of ankle joint indicated the disappearance of ankle effusion caused by injury, and the bone marrow edema had also subsided at talus, medial malleolus, and lateral malleolus and calcaneus. Patient presented with no ligament relaxation, ankle instability, pain, swelling, or functional limitation of the injured limb. AOFAS score reached 100. Daily functions and recreation activities were recovered back to the normal level. CONCLUSION: For patients with closed total dislocation of the talus, fine therapeutic effects can be achieved by early closed manual reduction and plaster external fixation under anesthesia, in combination with oral Chinese herbal medicine afterwards. It is worthy of reference for clinicians.