Efficacy of the Glidepath Technique for Ankle Syndesmosis Reduction

CATEGORY: Ankle; Trauma INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Syndesmotic screw fixation is frequently required in rotational ankle injuries. Fibular malreduction after syndesmotic screw fixation occurs in as many as 52% of cases, which has been shown to detrimentally affect subjective outcomes and increase the probability of developing arthritis. The glidepath technique has been proposed as a useful technique to prevent malreduction. We hypothesize that the glidepath technique reduces the occurrence of fibular malreduction and results in improved outcomes compared to clamping. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study comparing 25 patients reduced with a clamp compared to 18 patient using the glidepath technique. The glidepath technique, described by Needleman, the fibula is manually reduced and a Kirschner wire is placed through the fibula and tibia along the transmalleolar axis, parallel to the superior border of the ankle mortise. CT scans of the injured and contralateral ankles were obtained postoperatively to assess reduction. Malreduction is defined as >2mm difference between the anterior or posterior incisura-fibular distance of the injured ankle compared to the contralateral side. Prospective outcomes were assessed using the AOFAS and VR-12 scores at preoperative, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year followup of the glidepath cohort only. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant reduction in malreduced syndesmoses using the glidepath technique when compared with the clamping technique. In our study, 17% (3/18) were malreduced using the glidepath technique, compared with 48% (12/25 patients) with clamping (p=0.005). The three malreductions seen in our study were anterior, we had no posterior malreductions. Compared with the clamping cohort that had 10/25 posterior malreductions and 2/25 anterior malreductions. Mean outcomes at 3,6 and 1 year scores were AOFAS 76, 86,86; VR-12 46,53,50/ 42,44,47 (physical/mental) respectively. CONCLUSION: Historically, malreduction for syndesmotic fixation is as high as 52%. The glidepath technique is a viable reduction maneuver that has lower rates of malreduction compared to clamping in our study. This is the first ever CT confirmed study measuring syndesmosis reduction utilizing manual reduction. The value of this technique is that is does not require an open reduction, arthroscopic visualization/reduction or CT guidance to achieve syndesmotic reduction.