A new surgical strategy for the treatment of tibial pilon fractures with MIPO facilitated by double reverse traction repositor

The present study aims to introduce a technique combining double reverse traction repositor (DRTR) with minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) in the surgical treatment of pilon fractures and to observe the efficiency of this approach during a short-term follow-up period. From January to December 2018, patients with pilon fractures who were treated by MIPO with DRTR were reviewed. The demographic and fracture characteristics, surgical data, and prognostic data of 24 patients were extracted. In all 24 patients, closed reduction was achieved with the MIPO technique, and excellent functional and radiological outcomes were observed. The average duration of surgery and intraoperative blood loss were 95.0 ± 14.2 min and 152.1 ± 52.1 ml, respectively. A mean of 16.0 ± 1.9 intraoperative fluoroscopies were conducted. At the 12-month follow-up evaluation, the average AOFAS score was 85.2 ± 5.1. Anatomic or good reduction was observed in 23 (95.8%) patients. The mean ranges of motion of dorsiflexion and plantarflexion were 11.0 ± 2.7 and 32.7 ± 11.1, respectively. Two patients with deep venous thrombosis and one patient with wound non-purulent exudate were noted. Additionally, the wounds healed after routine dressing change. No other complications, including skin necrosis or delayed, non-union or malunion, were observed. The new strategy combining DRTR with MIPO in the treatment of pilon fractures allowed excellent radiological and clinical outcomes and a low postoperative complication rate to be achieved in a short-term follow-up period. Further large sample and comparative studies should be conducted to validate our results.