Treatment and outcome prognosis of patients with high-energy transsyndesmotic ankle fracture dislocation—the “Logsplitter” injury

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to retrospectively review the clinical efficacy of open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for treatment of high-energy transsyndesmotic ankle fracture dislocation—the “Logsplitter” injury. METHODS: Between December 2006 and December 2014, 41 patients (29 males and 12 females; mean age, 41.46 ± 13.42 years) with Logsplitter injury were treated by ORIF procedure. Patients were grouped as typical injury (mainly vertical axial stress) and untypical injury (mainly rotational stress) according to the injury mechanism and the degree of the talus wedged into the distal tibiofibular joint. RESULTS: After the follow-up of 32.48 ± 24.18 weeks, average American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score at final follow-up was 78.54 ± 10.66 and the excellent and good rate of 82.9%. Three patients in typical group developed nonunion, and other three cases had infection vs. none in untypical group (both P = 0.053). Burwell-Charnely scoring system revealed anatomic reduction of fracture was achieved in 22 cases, fair reduction in 16 cases, and poor in only 3 cases. Patients in untypical group had better fracture reduction (P = 0.015) and lower incidence rate of posttraumatic ankle arthritis (P = 0.042) than typical cases as well as the range of motion (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The ORIF may be an optimal approach to treat Logsplitter injuries. Patients with untypical injury had better fracture reduction, range of motion, and low incidence rate of posttraumatic ankle arthritis than those typical ones, and the postoperative outcome was affected by the injury and treatment characteristics.